I Can Run Forever
by Mikkal
Summary: When the world ended, in darkness and nightmares, the last thing anyone heard was, 'Take me instead.' Doctor!Whump, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Mystery, Friendship. Classic continuity nods.
1. Episode 1: Excalibur

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Doctor Who.

Season Notes: In honor of the new season coming out soon.

This was originally a really long project I was never going to post until I had it all written, but oh well. There are seven "episodes". Each chapter is an episode (originally, each scene was a chapter, but that changed). Episodes 1 and 2 are two-parters, they go together, and episodes 6 and 7 are the same-two parters, for those four episodes the scene numbering goes well. So, episode 1 has scenes 1-16 (not really) while episode 2 has scenes 17 to 25 (not really) while the counting starts over in episode 2, 3, 4, and 5, and 6, but 7 has the continuation of 6

Takes place after the christmas special. In my head, the Doctor picks up the Ponds at that time (after dinner of course)

And I'm not sure if River's going to show up.

Warnings: A lot of overlap, I'm sorry. And probably plot holes. Also, a lot of continuity of classic and nuwho.

This whole thing is un-beta. Anyone who sees anything out of the ordinary, let me know and I'll fix it.

And one last word (For those who haven't seen Torchwood or some of any Doctor Who)...

Spoilers!

* * *

I Can Run Forever

Mikkal

Episode 1: Excalibur (1)

* * *

Episode Notes: Special guests: Torchwood (if you can't tell by the title for those who have seen the first episode of Torchwood's second season (John Hart, anyone?) or for those who haven't seen it and still don't know the trivia behind it.

* * *

**Scene I**

He tripped and would have fallen if Scott hadn't caught him by the arm. Danny groaned and shoved him away, leaning against the brick wall as he dry heaved painfully.

His older brother chuckled. 'Jeez, Dan, you had one beer. When did you turn into such a lightweight?'

'Not. A. Lightweight,' he managed to growl out despite feeling like hell twice warmed over. His back hit the wall and he slid down, legs folding less-than-gracefully under him.

'Damn, mate.' Scott crouched down to peer into his little brother's face carefully. Much to his alarm Danny's eyes started to close and he listed to the side. He hauled him up and gripped his shoulders firmly. 'Danny, what's wrong?'

Danny shuddered and forced his eyes opened. '...I don't feel so good,' he said softly, child-like.

Scott smiled comfortingly. 'You don't look so good either.' He pulled Danny up and wrapped one of his arms around his shoulders. 'Let's get you home. I'm sure Jo would love to look after you,' he teased.

He received no answer.

'Danny?'

'Hmm?' His brother hummed half-conscious. 'Can...Can we go home, please?'

'Where do you think we're going?' Scott couldn't help but tease again. He grinned when Danny chuckled a little; maybe this was just his little flu hitting him hard.

Nothing to worry about…right?

* * *

Scott held his brother's hand tightly, eyes fixated on the almost too fast movement of his chest as he willed Danny to keep breathing.

That didn't stop him from half-hearing the three people behind the hospital curtain talk in harsh faux-whispers. They hadn't introduced themselves, but the stories of Torchwood were so familiar to the residents of Cardiff they didn't need such a silly thing like an introduction.

The curtain swished open and reflex made him look up while big brother instinct made him look back at Danny a second later. There was no change in his brother's condition.

'Scott Foster,' an American voice said.

His curiosity of why an American was in Wales and saying his name made him look up again. He came face to face with an ordinary looking man if you took away the World War II great coat and if you ignored his impossibly blue, impossibly old eyes.

The sheer age that showed in his eyes made Scott gulp. He felt insignificant and tiny compared to this ancient man. For the first time in his life his name burned with power on the tongue of another.

'Yes? That's me.' At that moment he realised Danny's fingers were turning blue and released his hand as if it had bitten him. 'What do you want?'

The woman behind the ancient man smiled at him comfortingly, revealing a charming gap between her two front teeth. 'Hello, I'm Gwen,' she said, obviously from Wales. So they weren't all foreigners. 'This is Jack,' the American, 'And Doctor Owen,' some pale bloke.

'That doesn't tell me what you want.' Scott glared at the 'doctor' as he came closer. The man wasn't wearing scrubs or a white coat. 'Doctor of what?'

'A lot of things,' he answered, a bit cryptic. He leaned over his brother and checked a few things, using a hand-sized flat machine that had way too many lights and buttons for his liking.

Scott took his brother's hand again. 'What's wrong with him?'

The doctor glanced at him and went to talk to the ancient man. Their backs turned away and Gwen took the seat Jo normally occupied next to him.

'He's your brother, isn't he?'

He snorted. 'Shouldn't you already know that?' He pushed a lock of sweat soaked hair from Danny's forehead, features softening the longer he looked at his brother. '…Yeah, he is. My little brother by four years.'

Gwen smiled gently. 'You care a lot about him.'

'Of course I do. But why does it matter?' He snapped. 'Why do you keep asking stupid questions?'

Her smile didn't change. 'Tell me about him, Scott. Tell me about Danny.'

Scott stared at her for what it seemed like hours before he started talking. He talked about everything and he couldn't seem to stop. He talked about Danny's favorite books and least favorite foods. How he would rather read than party or watch the telly. He talked about Danny's job and his plan to propose to Jo, his girlfriend of four years.

But then he found himself talking about their less-than-brilliant childhood. About how Scott was lucky to be older and more into sports, but Danny was younger and didn't make friends easily back then. That left him in the care of their bipolar father and drunken mother, both who liked to raise their hands against their sons on more than a daily occasion. And then, at eighteen and when Scott was sure he could handle it, he took Danny away from their home and moved to Wales.

And they had been here ever since.

Scott was all but gasping when he finished, mind reeling with all the information he just spilled out to complete strangers. He wasn't afraid of those memories, not like Danny was, but they weren't pleasant and they always left a bad taste on his tongue.

'Danny's going to be fine,' the ancient man announced. 'He's just got a nasty complication of the flu. Give him a few weeks and he'll be good as new.'

'"Complication?"' Scott repeated. 'Haven't people been in the hospital for months because of that? Is he going to be okay?' Panic surge up his throat.

'Trust us,' the ancient man, Jack, assured. 'Doctor Harper here is the best in the business. A few weeks and he'll be right as rain.'

Scott swallowed and looked down at his unresponsive brother. He forced himself to trust these people even if he didn't really. They were the first people to give him hope; the doctors in this hospital just shook their heads and gave him sad looks. Hope was what he needed right now.

'Alright.'

And then they just left.

* * *

'Anything?' Jack asked.

Owen nodded. 'Something. Symptoms of the flu but his brain waves are going haywire while his motor functions are completely shot. He's having nightmares, but no one can tell.'

'He's screaming, but no one can hear him,' Gwen comment sadly. 'Jack, the first coma-flu victim came in _months _ago. There's been six cases so far, all with some sort of trauma in their lifetimes. What the bloody hell is going on?'

Jack frowned and rubbed the back of his neck. 'I don't know.' And that bothered him. He may not know everything, but he knew a lot about anything. He knew nothing about this. 'Let's get back to the Hub and see if Tosh's come up with something.'

'You think this is Rift related?' Owen asked.

He shrugged. 'Won't hurt to check it out.'

_'Don't bother.' _Tosh said over theircomm.-units. '_I already checked. No Rift activity since your buddy John Hart decided to mess with it.'_

Jack frowned at that reminder but shook it off. 'You sure?'

_'Yes, I'm sure. But Ianto's found something in some obscure alien book that fell through a year ago. He wants you here soon. Said it might be what we're looking for.'_

Jack nodded even if she couldn't see him. 'Gotcha, we're on our way.' He pulled the truck into gear and attempted to screech out of the hospital parking lot in a cool way.

His attempt in coolness failed, much to the relief to Gwen. She absolutely hated that noise.

'Tosh said this book fell through the Rift?' Owen asked. 'Where'd it come from?'

Jack sniffed and turned right. 'It's a 50th century book from the Jyduion System. I never got a chance it look though it, but the cover said it was a psychological medical book.'

'It would make sense that this something would be in an alien med book,' Owen said, rolling his eyes. 'This is just getting better and better every minute.'

Gwen shook her head. 'You thought this was an Earth thing? Really?'

'I was hoping.'

'We were all hoping,' Jack said. 'These alien things are some much harder to solve.'

Suddenly he slammed to a stop right outside the Roald Dahl Plass, right between it and the Wales Millennium Centre. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped, his knuckles turned white.

'You've _got_ to be bloody kidding me,' he said, almost in awe. Joy sparking in his eyes.

* * *

**Scene II**

Rory woke with a scream catching in his throat. He choked and spluttered, glancing at the side his wife was normally sprawled out on only to find it empty and relatively cold. A peak at the clock told him it was eleven o'clock by Great Britain standards.

Why would she let him sleep in this late? She _hated_ waiting for him to wake up.

Then he remembered. Rory didn't get to bed until four in the morning, too afraid of the nightmares he might see. She didn't know about them so she let him sleep. He wished she hadn't.

The nightmares were usually the same thing over and over again: Amy dying by his plastic hand, living 2,000 years on the slow path through wars and genocide, the House tormenting all three (four) of them, and the Doctor getting shot in the middle of his regeneration and dying for real.

Only this time there was an odd, disturbing scene entwined with those usual ones. The Doctor at the bottom of a sea, thrashing around helplessly with his mouth open in a silent scream. His eyes stared into Rory's soul, begging and pleading for him to save him. But Rory was frozen against his will and couldn't do anything.

Rory shook his head and put on some clothes before making his way to the kitchens. He was not in the mood to dwell on things he couldn't even begin to understand; he was not the psychic of the group. The TARDIS seemed to sense his less-than-pleasant mood. She made a straight line of corridors from his room to the kitchens.

Amy wasn't there like he had hoped, but the Doctor was. He was rummaging through the fridge, muttering under his breath in a language he couldn't understand.

'Rory!' The Doctor whirled around. 'You're awake. Brilliant.' He clapped his hands together. 'You can help me.'

'Where's Amy?' He wasn't going to help him with anything if it involved jammy dodgers. He shuddered, bad things happened when jammy dodgers were involved.

The Doctor just pouted. 'She went to the wardrobe. She wouldn't help me look for bananas.'

He sighed in relief. Bananas were better than jammy dodgers, but not by much. 'What do you need bananas for?' Rory asked as he began looking.

'Banana milkshakes,' the Doctor said gleefully. He threw out a jar of pickles he found in the fridge door, Rory just barely managed to catch it. 'You've gotten faster,' he commented thoughtfully, without looking.

Rory sat the jar on the table and leaned against the counter. 'I've gotten a few sports squeezed in here and there. It has been two years, after all.'

The Time Lord paused, but didn't turn around. 'Yeah, I guess it has.'

His voice was pitched weirdly, low and gruff. Rory frowned and moved a little closer. 'Doctor, you okay?'

'Of course I am!' He said brightly. 'I'm always okay. Remember? King of Okays?...ignore that, I forgot how rubbish of a title that was. And I found the bananas. Would you like a delicious banana milkshake?'

Rory chuckled at the much missed ramblings and sudden change of topics and accepted the offer. He would prefer eggs and toast, but who could deny that puppy dog look? It seemed as if the Doctor's been working on it since they last saw him.

Three minutes and two delicious milkshakes later Amy walked in, decked out for a day at the beach.

The Doctor quirked an eyebrow at her. 'You plan on going somewhere?'

She plopped down between them, folding her hands together seriously and leveling the Doctor with an even look. 'Doctor, it's been four months since we started travelling with you again.'

'Uh-huh.' He took a giant slurp of his too milk-y milkshake, totally nonchalant.

Amy leaned in close. 'I want to go to the beach.'

'Really?'

'Really.'

'Are you sure?'

'I'm sure.'

The Doctor was silent for one long moment before he grinned. 'Off to the beach we go! Different planet or Earth?'

'Different planet!' Amy chirped.

Rory smiled at her excitement and followed the two slowly as they practically skipped to the main room. He hurriedly chugged his milkshake before the Doctor flipped any switches. No doubt the TARDIS would be mighty pissed if she got banana stains all over her pretty glass floor.

A flush of warmth spread from his ears to the rest of his head, indicating she heard the jist of it and appreciated the thought. She sure did love being called 'pretty,' and 'gorgeous,' and 'sexy.'

'Rory the Roman!' How long had it been since he heard that nickname leave the Doctor's lips? 'Flip the green doo-hickey and pull that thing-a-ma-bob!'

He blinked. 'What?'

'Never mind!' The alien danced around the console, humming a song to match his footsteps instead of the other way around. He faltered for a second, a flash of pain flickered across his face. Just as quick it was gone. Rory narrowed his eyes and exchanged meaningfully glances with his wife. 'I know the perfect place,' he informed them, the flickering pain gone. 'No danger except we have to be out of the water and away from the planet before the moon rises.'

'Why?' Amy all but whined.

'Because when the moon rises all the faeries come out and play.' The Doctor wiggled his fingers in a goofy way. 'Okay, not really. They're actually a lot of pretty little lights that _look_ like Earth's sometimes version of little supernatural, mythical creatures.' he admitted. 'In reality, there's a sort of chemical reaction that happens. The moon isn't really a moon and emits helionistic radiation, in the form of pretty lights, which reacts almost violently with water. It explodes any living organism that is coated with the water.'

Amy winced. 'That doesn't sound good.'

'It's not.'

Rory's eyebrows furrowed. '"Helionistic?" I've never heard of that. And, what about the water _in _the living things?"

The Doctor smiled like a proud Oxford professor who finally had a student who finally asked an intelligent question. 'Those are both really good questions…I'll answer the second one first. The reason why is because all the organisms have a protective layering that keeps the radiation from entering them, which is why we would explode. We're so soft it's ridiculous.' He pinched his own cheek and made a face. 'Besides, I said _coating_. That's much different than _containing_. And first question, you wouldn't have heard of it because it's alien. You can't even find helionistic radiation within 432,838.13764, no wait…_433,838.13875_ light years of your solar system. It's very rare and only good for species that want to have a defense system that really, really, _really _works.'

Amy's eyes got bigger and bigger though out his little lecture. 'Then what are we doing, going there?'

'Oh relax,' the Doctor said posh-ly. 'The moon is only out for three hours in a 42 hour day. I'm hopping us to a hour after the moon sets and we'll leave a hour before it rises. Plenty of time to get in some nice rays.'

The TARDIS suddenly rocked forward, sending Rory to the floor and Amy landing on top of him. The Doctor grabbed onto some things he really shouldn't grab so he wouldn't end up knocking himself out.

'And…' He turned a knob. 'We are…' He cranked a lever. 'Here!' He flipped a light switch. 'Ponds, welcome to Pisinca VI!'

Amy squealed and ran to the doors, throwing them open to reveal the Roald Dahl Plass in all its glory. 'Uh, Doctor…this is not a beach. This is Cardiff.'

The Doctor pushed her out of the way and peered outside. 'Huh, I guess it is.' He frowned and went back to the console. 'I think I made a wrong turn at the asteroid field of Fazeal.' He froze and whirled back around, pushing her aside once again. 'We're in Cardiff! Brilliant!'

'Um, yeah,' Rory said, confused. 'I thought we already established that?'

'We did,' the Doctor said excitedly. He bounced out of the TARDIS like a child in a candy shop. 'But, we're in Cardiff, Wales. Late May 2008, by the looks of things. Oh, this is brilliant!'

Amy glanced at her husband, pulling on a thick jumper and some fingerless gloves. There was chill in the air and what looked like rain. 'Wanna tell us why this is so brilliant?'

At that moment a truck came to a sudden halt a few feet away. TORCHWOOD carved in on the side of the hood.

'This is why,' the Doctor said proudly just as the driver's side of the car quickly flew open and an attractive man came flying out just as fast. 'Amy, Rory, I think it's time for you to meet Captain Jack Harkness.'

Captain Jack Harkness was taller than the Doctor and, yet, younger. There was something about his eyes that made him seem ancient in both experience and age, but he wasn't really a match for the alien. He wore braces like the Doctor, and a WWII great coat that looked very good on him. He had an easy smile and ruffled black hair that blew in the wind as he came closer to the trio.

'Doctor!' Jack slid to a stop, his face splitting with a smile. 'You've changed your face again.'

'Captain,' he greeted. The Doctor grinned and shrugged. 'I did.' He then frowned. 'How long has it been?'

Jack counted on his fingers, mouthing the numbers and making Amy giggle. '3 weeks? I only got back from the Valiant a few weeks ago. So, not long.'

That meant…right. 2008, which means he's yet to regenerate in Jack's semi-linear timeline, there hasn't been Donna, and the stars haven't started going out yet, he hasn't said good-bye to him in that bar and Earth's children have yet to start chanting.

He ran a hand through his hair. If anyone ever asked him which fixed-point he would ever break time for (again) it would be the point happening in only a year or so. Anything Captain Jack Harkness played a major role in automatically became an unfixable fixed point in time. He gave Jack a dark look that the Never-Die-Man didn't catch, his friend was in for a world of pain and he could do nothing about it. It broke his hearts.

'And who is this?' Jack flirtatious voice interrupted his depressing thoughts.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. 'Oh don't start.'

'Hey,' he countered. 'If you can wear a bowties then I can say hello.'

'Bowties are cool!'

'I don't mind,' Amy said, grinning. 'I'm Amy Pond.'

Rory scowled. 'And I'm her husband, Rory.'

'Rory Pond?' A pale bloke scoffed, walking up behind Jack. 'A bit of a girl's name, isn't it?'

He didn't bother dignifying that with a response. Amy smiled and entwined their fingers together, giving his hand a little squeeze.

A black haired woman pushed the bloke out of the way. 'Ignore him, I like it.' She shook his hand. 'I'm Gwen Cooper. This sullen fellow is Owen Harper.'

'I'm the Doctor,' he said knowingly. 'It's _very _nice to meet you.' _Again_ wasn't said, but it was implied.

She frowned, but didn't say anything while Owen gave him a startled look, having heard so many stories about this man. The origin of Torchwood dedicated to taking down this man right in front of him…but that was a long time ago.

'So what's this visit for?' Jack asked.

The Doctor scratched his head. '_That_ is a very good question. 'Cause, you see, we meant to go to Pisinca VI for a little bit of sun and dangerous things that don't happen until dark. I have absolutely no idea why the TARDIS would bring us here.'

Jack exchanged looks with his team and his expression became grim. 'I think I do. We have a slight problem, and I think you're just the person to help.'

The Doctor smiled. 'A problem that the great Captain Jack Harkness can't solve?' He clapped his hands together. 'Count me in!'

'Thank you so much for your confidence in me, Doctor,' the Captain said wryly.

'Oh, I have plenty of confidence in you,' he assured. 'But, if you can't solve this then this means that this is extra complicated. I'm in the mood for something extra complicated.'

Owen shook his head. 'This sorta complicated you won't like, no matter who you are.'

'Really?' He asked doubtfully.

'Gwen, Owen, take the standard entrance,' Jack ordered. 'I'll take them through our guest entrance.'

They left without another word, already formulating a conversation in their head to have with Tosh and Ianto when they finally got to the Hub. Jack gestured the trio to stand on a slab of concrete just near the Roald Dahl Plass, it shuddered and began moving down.

'No one can see us,' he informed them with a huge grin when he saw Amy and Rory give passersby concerned looks. 'There's a perception field around this very area due to a machine with a very strong one standing in this exact spot during a huge surge of time and space energy.'

The Doctor chuckled along with the other man. 'Good times.'

Rory shook his head. 'Just what we need,' he muttered. 'More mad men.'

* * *

**Scene III**

The introduction of Toshiko 'Tosh' Sato and Ianto Jones would've gone by pretty much quickly and unremarkably. That is, if the Doctor hadn't frozen at Tosh's name and stared at her like she was a really interesting alien specimen.

'I know you!' He exclaimed.

Torchwood's computer expert blinked. 'You do?'

The Doctor squinted at her and wiggled his fingers around, as if that would make the memory come faster. 'Yes…yes I do.' He snapped his fingers. 'You're that woman from Albion Hospital! Remember, that time with the humanoid pig? P.T. Barnum's monkey/fish mermaid?'

Tosh's eyes widened, she glanced at Jack worriedly. 'But…that wasn't you. That was the Doctor…someone different, right?'

'But I am the Doctor,' he pointed out. 'That was just a different me. A younger me.' He waved a hand. 'I can change my face, it's a long story. Tell me, though.' He moved in a little closer. 'If you're the computer expert and Owen Harper is the doctor around here…why were you at the hospital doing that autopsy?'

This time she glanced at Owen, a little annoyed. 'Because that idiotic prat decided to get a hangover and shove the job on me.' She smiled then. 'It wasn't so bad,' Tosh admitted.

Owen smirked at her. 'Told ya you'd like it.'

The Doctor shook his head. 'I should've known you worked for Torchwood. Wait, you knew me,' he said to Jack. 'You knew I was coming.'

'Of course I did,' Jack said. 'I'm pretty sure I was companion at one point with both you and Rose. Neither of you could keep your mouth shut about adventures. I couldn't see you, though. So I sent in Tosh...well, I gave the orders for Owen to go in.'

'So, if you had been there yourself that would be a paradox, right?' Amy asked.

Ianto nodded. 'For the most part, yes. In fact, for all we know, this right now is one giant paradox.'

The Doctor winced. 'And perhaps you're right.' He glanced at Jack, eyes shadowed.

Rory didn't like that look on his face so he turned to Tosh, noticing she saw the same thing and looked worried herself. 'So…the reason we're probably here. The extra complicated thing that the Doctor's looking forward to?'

'Right.' The Doctor shook his head and whirled around, eyes a bit bright. 'What do we've got?'

Tosh pulled up six profiles on her monitor. 'In the past three months six people have gotten sick with the flu then fallen into a coma soon after. Their brain waves are going crazy on a level that current Earth technology can't detect and their motor functions, for the most part, are completely shot. Their heart rate is slightly increased and their respiratory system is working overtime.'

'Like they're terrified.' Rory stared at the screen that held a record of a victim's brain waves. 'Like they're having nightmares,' he murmured. Working as a coma nurse for a while taught him thing or two.

Jack nodded. 'Exactly. We haven't been able to figure out what it is or why it's doing this.'

'Actually,' Ianto intoned. 'The book, Jack.'

Jack smacked his head. 'Right, the book!'

'What book?' The Doctor asked.

The Welshman pulled out a thick, shiny book. 'This one. Copyright 50th century from the Royal Library of the Cha'yliane Family in the Jyduion System.' When everyone gave him strange looks he rolled his eyes and flipped to the page after the title page, revealing all that information. 'It's research the old fashion way.'

The Doctor pulled the book from him and started looking through the pages. 'Extinct,' he muttered. 'Faked. Faked. Cured. Faked. Cured…by me. Actually real. Real. Cured. Extinct. Real. Faked. Real. Real. Real. Reworked. Ah-ha!' He pointed at a passage about 45 pages in. 'Found it.'

'I forgot how fast he could read,' Jack commented. 'Good to know that hasn't changed.'

He chuckled, but then his eyebrows furrowed. 'I found it, but there isn't a name. Actually, there's nothing much about it. It just tells me what you just told me. And this says it's a parasite that feeds on that fear the nightmares cause. No species, no quadrant, no time.'

'That's super useful,' Amy said sarcastically.

'Actually, it is. Who's the most recent victim?' The Doctor asked. 'No, wait. Scratch that. Are you sure the coma victims are the only victims?'

'What do you mean?'

He wrote something in the air with his finger. 'Okay. I'm assuming all of these victims have had a traumatic childhood, super traumatic. Unbelievably traumatic. Maybe not even a childhood, more like years at one point in their life that keeps haunting them and never leaving. Let's assume that.'

Rory raised an eyebrow. 'Okay.'

'Okay,' the Doctor repeated, nodding. 'So this thing. It likes those nightmares and traumas, but it can't just feed on them. Sure that's a lot of fear, but only six victims isn't enough to keep it alive. What if there are more people out there with the flu, more people who have been having nightmares or seeing their fears as hallucinations? Their lives weren't traumatic enough for a coma, but they're still suffering.'

'There could be more out there,' Gwen breathed; eyes wide.

'And who knows what this thing is doing with this fear,' Jack said. 'It could just be feeding on it, but what if it's getting stronger? No one's died, but what if they will?'

The Doctor frowned. He didn't like the thought of that. 'Who's the latest coma victim?'

Owen snorted. This guy was as random and back-track-y as Jack. 'Danny Foster. 26. He has an older brother who's Scott Foster, 28. They had abusive parents, but Danny got the worse of it for about thirteen years until Scott turned 18 and got both of them out.'

Amy looked like she was about to be sick. 'Since he was three,' she murmured. 'How could anyone do that to a three year old?'

'I think that counts as a traumatic childhood,' Owen said dryly.

That earned him a glare from Gwen, Amy, Jack, Tosh, Rory, and the Doctor. So, pretty much everyone gave him a dirty look.

'Can we see him?' The Doctor asked.

Jack nodded. 'Yeah, I think so. I'll call the hospital, see how soon.' He walked into his office to make a call while the Doctor took this time to explain to Tosh why a pig with a warped brain ran around Albion Hospital years ago.

He rubbed his head and cracked his neck as the other line rang over and over again. Jack sighed, massaging his shoulder. Could this day get any more stressful?

'_Jack…_'

Jack whirled around, phone falling to his side. He searched the room wildly. No. No, it couldn't be possible.

'_…Jack!'_

'Gray?' He whispered. 'Gray, is that you?'

'_Jack, help me. Please, help me.'_

Jack spun around in a circle, still searching, but this time frantically. 'Gary, where are you?'

'_Please._ _They're coming!'_

'Jack?'

He jumped almost a foot in the air. Amy gave him a sympathetic look, leaning against the doorframe nonchalantly.

'I know that look,' she said. 'That's the look the Doctor gets when he's remember something unpleasant. Are you okay?'

Jack shook himself, ridding his mind of the traces of Gray. 'Yeah, I'm fine.' He ran a hand down his face. 'What's up?'

She jerked a thumb to point downstairs. 'The Doctor wants to know if he can see Danny Foster. Rory's trying to keep him from just barging down there.'

'Oh, right.' He put the phone back to his ear, the woman on the other end asking him if he was there. The conversation took the total time of two minutes once he explained he was Torchwood.

Sometimes being a famous secret organization helped with the technicalities.

He snapped his phone shut and headed downstairs, Amy not far behind. 'The hospital says we can see him whenever we want, along with all the other patients too.'

'Brilliant!' The Doctor exclaimed. 'Let's stop wasting time and see if we can fix this thing before it's too late!'

And if it was too late…Jack didn't even want to think about that. If the Doctor was right, if there were more victims out there just not in a coma then who knew what was going to happen next.

* * *

**Scene IV**

Tosh and Owen offered to stay behind in the Hub and research what the hell was going on now that they knew a little bit more information. And Jack offered to drive, he didn't get a chance to drive nearly as often as he'd like since he got back from the Valiant.

'So, Amy, Rory, how long have you and the Doctor been traveling together?'

'Oh,' Amy said nonchalantly. 'Only a few months.' She smirked.

Rory rolled his eyes. 'Yeah, that's too much of an understatement. And that's only recently.' He turned to the Doctor. 'How long has it actually been?' He could never track time well even without all of the time-travelling.

The Doctor shook his head. '3, 2 years?...ish. But we've know each other longer. Amy and I almost 16 years. You and me….about 1837, 8…years. If you add the Auton timeline.'

'I usually don't, no offence.'

Jack was silent for a moment. 'That's a long time.'

Ianto put a hand on his shoulder, invisible to everyone else.

He shrugged. 'Just a bit. But not really, a lot of that time wasn't actually travelling. Like I said, it's only been about 3 or 2 years. Everything else was just…wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey. Plus, we've known each other almost as long,' the Doctor pointed out. 'And I bet that's not a fixed number.'

Jack smiled sheepishly. 'That's a good point.'

They pulled up to the hospital quickly, getting out without much fanfare. Rory stuffed his hands in his pockets and followed Ianto closely. Amy ran ahead to be up with Jack and the Doctor, her Scottish-ness shining through.

'What's wrong?' Rory asked. Ianto didn't look too happy. Then again, the Welshman hadn't look happy since they met, but there was a certain smothering look that indicated more than unhappiness.

Ianto didn't even look at him. 'Nothing.' He continued staring at Jack's back.

'…Okay.'

Danny Foster was in room 302. Scott Foster apparently had been forced to the café down the street by Jo, the soon to be younger brother's fiancée, so he wouldn't end up hurting himself with his worry. The room was the standard and filled with equipment to deal with a man in an uncommon coma that also had the flu.

Something itched at the back of Rory's mind. He glanced at the corner and looked away, rubbing his neck. He took a deep breath, calming his racing heart.

Suddenly a shot rang out, making everyone jump. He looked at the ending trajectory of the bullet.

Rory whirled around and glared at Jack. 'What'd you do that for?' He demanded. He blinked and shook his head, anger fading as fast as it came. Why was he angry? He forgot. Was something wrong with the medical equipment? Wait…wasn't he just scared?

Jack stared at his gun then at Rory. 'I don't know. Why do I have my gun out?'

'Rory.' The Doctor grabbed his shoulders and forced him to look at him. 'What did you see?'

Rory looked at him, confused. 'I didn't see anything? What are you talking about?' He glanced at the Captain's skinny gun. 'Why does Jack have his gun out? Doctor?'

The Doctor glanced at him then looked at the corner. He sighed in relief, still staring at the corner somewhere near the ground. 'There's only one. It's not a Silence thing.'

'What?' Amy demanded.

He nodded towards Rory. 'Rory's got one tally mark. Jack only shot once. If there were more there would be more.'

Rory glanced at his arm and saw the marker on his wrist. He pulled out the uncapped black marker from his pocket. 'Are you sure?'

The Doctor gave his shoulders a light squeeze before letting go. 'I'm sure. There'd be more. That Silent was probably just a watcher. Making sure we don't figure things out too quickly about their stupid plan.'

'Plan?' Amy asked. 'What plan?'

'…Oh,' the Doctor said slowly. 'I…I didn't tell you?'

Rory stood next to his wife. 'No, you didn't. What plan does the Silence have?'

'What the hell is going on?' Jack demanded.

'Nothing!'

Jack glared at him. 'That's not nothing. What's the Silence? Why can't I remember why I shot my gun?'

And the Doctor began to speak. He explained everything…well, almost everything. He only explained the Silence, he left out his death. And he left out the plan that even Amy and Rory didn't know about. The Question. The stupid Question.

Rory moved, instead, towards Danny Foster. Reading his vitals and checking the chart. There was no new information. None at all. He leaned over, hesitating, before pulling back Danny's eye lid. Green-blue pupils darted restlessly around. A sort of REM sleep.

'What are you doing?' Ianto asked harshly. 'Owen didn't want anyone touching the victims. Even the doctors. They could be infectious.'

'What about the victims that aren't in a coma? They're surrounded by people.' He took his hands away anyway. Don't want to anger the super secret organization.

'Why didn't you tell me this before?' Jack yelled. 'I could've helped!'

The Doctor scowled. 'Now is not the time to talk about this. Can you at least wait? You've developed a little patience by now, haven't you?'

Jack spluttered at the little insult as the Doctor turned his back on his friend and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. He turned to the right setting and clicked the button to turn it on. It buzzed, taking a reading from the poor human.

He flipped it open, the four claw prongs sliding out, and did a quick scan of the readings, frowning. 'Well, Danny isn't totally infected now. It isn't as strong as it would be for a thing like this. He's got traces of the parasite so he'll still be in the coma and his fear will still be fed on, but it won't kill him. I have a feeling that's the same with everyone else too.'

'Are you sure?' Jack asked, still a little grumpy.

'Yes I'm sure,' the Doctor said tersely.

He cupped the back of Rory's neck and tangled his fingers with Amy—blocked by her long jumper sleeves and gloves—trying to find something sturdy to ground himself on his emotions. They were always a bit wild, his emotions. Skin contact helped with it, with being a telepath and such. He could 'sync' up with a more stable emotion. It helped that he had the permission.

Jack sighed. 'Let's head back to the Hub. We've got to figure this out.'

'There's not much to do,' Ianto said. 'We can only gather so much before there's nothing to gather anymore.'

'That's no way to think!' The Doctor exclaimed, letting go of his companions and rubbing his hands together. He coughed a little before putting on knowing smile. 'There's _always_ an answer. You've just got to think about it. It's kinda like Einstein's Intelligence Quiz. You've got all the clues, now you've just gotta figure who's got the fish.'

'That's the question, though,' Amy said. 'What's the fish? And who has it?

'Uh, That's two questions.'

'Shut up.'

* * *

**Scene V**

The Doctor sat in the TARDIS after moving her to inside the Hub, running a few things by her. She seemed to be as perplexed as him. That was never a good sign.

It also wasn't a good sign when your time machine seemed to be more worried about you instead of trying to figure out what wrong with these people.

'I'm fine, old girl.'

He pushed his fringe out of his face and cracked his sore back, sighing. Long fingers tapped the console idly. This really wasn't how he wanted to spend a 'beach day'. Honestly, he just wanted to go to the beach. Have some free time with his friends; for once not have them in immediate danger.

_'Charlie Chaplin.'_

'No,' he moaned, head falling to his hands.

_'Mountains that move, can you imagine?'_

He shook his head. 'No, no, please. Not now.'

_'You know, Doctor, you can fix that chameleon circuit if you just try hotwiring the fragment links and superseding the binary binary binary binary bi—Doctor! Help me!'_

'Shut up,' he snapped. 'You're not real.'

_'Doctor, please. I can feel it. It's burning. Please!'_

He squeezed his eyes shut. 'Stop it. You're not real. You're not even calling me Spaceman. You can't be real.'

_'Please!_ _Please, why aren't you helping me? Doctor…Doctor, I'm going to die!'_

'NONE OF THIS HAPPENED!'

He shot up from his seat and slammed his hands on the console. The Doctor gritted his teeth and stared determinedly at the flashing white knob beneath some wires. 'Donna was saved,' he told himself firmly. 'You fixed her head. She didn't die. _She was saved_.'

The Doctor pushed himself away and stalked out of the TARDIS. There was a brush of comforting warmth at the edges of his mind, making him smile. She was always looking out for him.

He nodded towards Tosh and Amy as they discussed something…womanly and waved at Rory, who was trying to get Owen to show him a few things about Torchwood's medical file. He smiled fondly, two years and they changed so much…but, at the same time, not so much.

Jack was at the top of the stairs, looking down at them like an all-seeing father. He fixed his bowtie nervously and cleared his throat.

Now or never, it was time to make sure Jack understood what it meant for the Doctor to be showing up so soon in the timeline. Not really a conversation he wanted to have, but if it meant getting away from the haunting of Doctor-Donna then it was fine.

'Jack, I need to talk to you.'

Jack frowned. 'Sure.' He led his old friend into his office and shut the door. 'What about?'

The Doctor leaned against a low shelf, a hand running through his fringe almost nervously. 'I'm going to see you again, soon, but with the face I had before.'

His eyes lit up at that information. Sure he loved the Doctor in every form and face, but there was nothing more comforting than seeing a familiar one. 'Can you tell me what for?'

'Sorry, but no.' He waved a hand. 'Timelines and all that jazz.' He grinned. 'Spoilers….but I _can_ tell you _not_ to mention this little adventure to me.'

'Why not?'

The Doctor looked sad with fear mixed with pain. He looked far older than he should. Perhaps he actually looked his age. 'I really liked, or like, my tenth face. I loved—love—the life I had with all of you. You, Rose, Martha, Donna…you don't know her yet, do you?...Mickey.' He glanced away. 'I shouldn't tell you this, but not long after I see you again…not long at all, I'm going to regenerate.'

Jack gripped the edge of his desk tightly. '_What?'_ There was proof he would live through that, right in front of him, but didn't stop him from worrying.

He began pacing a short track. 'But I'm not regenerating. I'm dying. I'm going to die. He is dead. He died. I died…' He trailed off, as if he forgot where he was going with this. 'I grew so attached to that face that I was, for the first time in a long time. Or for the first time ever, it's hard to remember. For the first time, I…I was afraid to change.' He whirled around and faced Jack, staring at him intently. 'You can't tell me—him—that you saw me. You can't tell him, or even give him the slightest hint, that he's going to regenerate.'

Jack didn't like how the pronouns switched from first person to third. When will they switch back? 'Am I there? In the end?'

He shook his head. 'No. No one's there.' Jack's heart tightened. 'But that doesn't matter. You just have to promise me, promise me you won't tell him about this. I don't want him freaking out more than he already is. When you meet him he doesn't know how close he is to the end, but when he does find out…when he does…it's not going to be pretty.'

'Doctor,' he said quietly. 'What happened?

'Nothing happened. Absolutely nothing at all, but that's the thing.' The Doctor sighed and stared down, out the windows, at Amy and Rory as the Torchwood team showed them a few harmless artefacts. 'He…I,' he corrected, realizing it bothered Jack more than he was letting on. 'I was so scared. I couldn't let anyone see me. How would anyone see me anyway? Rose was with…someone else in another dimension.

'The one you haven't met yet was…indispose…mentally. Still alive, though,' he assured. 'You were with Torchwood; you had your own life. And I ruined Martha so much already I couldn't…I just couldn't.' He choked on a breath. 'Nothing happened, because I forced it not to happen. The only constant since I regenerated, the only thing that keeps showing up is River. Other than that, there's nothing. No memories to haunt me, no people to guilt me. No companions, except once. I became a new person.'

'You forgot about us,' Jack breathed.

The Doctor looked at him sharply, eyes narrowed. 'No, never forget,' he said. 'I became too close to you all. I compromised myself, that's what made it so much harder to change. I have to fix that.'

Jack smirked. 'You're not doing a very good job of that.'

He glanced out the window again then back at him, sighing. 'No, I guess I'm not.' He rubbed his face. 'That was load. It's been awhile since I could talk like that to anyone.' He smiled at him, a ghost on a usually jovial face. 'I'm sorry.'

'No need to be.'

And he really had no reason to be sorry. Jack was willing to listen; he had some sort of the same experience as him…in a way, so he could understand. There was no one else in the universe that could even being to understand him. Not anymore. Some weight was lifted from the Doctor's shoulders as he talked; his pale eyes were a bit lighter than before. His smile wasn't back—his smile was always the same no matter what he looked like—but Jack had a feeling it was getting there.

'Seriously, though. Don't mention any of this to me later. At all,' he said firmly. 'I don't want to spend all of that time completely terrified of my own demise. Regeneration shouldn't end with that kind of feeling hanging over your head, but, hey, who said I ever did anything half-way?'

Jack nodded. 'Considered my lips completely sealed. You can trust me.'

The Doctor gave him a fond look. 'I know.'

'And I'm sorry for yelling at you earlier, at the hospital,' Jack said quickly, suddenly. 'I just…' He struggled to find the words.

'You felt left behind,' the Doctor said quietly. 'It's okay. I understand. I tend to do that to a lot of people.'

'Doctor—.'

He held up a hand to stop him. 'Don't bother trying to justify it. You know I'm right. Why don't we see what Tosh and Ianto's got?'

* * *

**Scene VI**

'It's definitely alien,' Owen said. He turned on the projector to show the blood work of the first three victims lined up with the readings he took with his hand-held flat machine that had a lot of buttons and lights. 'I put a sample of the blood work to line up with these readings. The parasite shows itself as a red blood cell with five points. It's in the blood stream but concentrates in the brain.'

'That's extremely not very good,' the Doctor muttered.

'You think?' Gwen snarked.

He rubbed his shoulders. 'Yes, I think.' He looked up at the screen. 'I also think this may be a very bad thing.'

'Why is this a bad thing?' Amy asked. 'We could figure out a cure. That is, if Owen keeps breaking it down.'

'The bad thing is that this could either mean two things. One…it could mean there's more than one of these things and I was wrong about it leaving Danny. Or two…B…zwei…whatever. Or two, it could mean this thing is sentient and purposely leaving behind traces of itself for nefarious deeds…Wonderful word, nefarious.'

_'Doctor...Doctor, there's no air!_'

He flinched and pushed back Martha's voice. The Doctor ignored the pain and fear laced in her not-really-there voice. It was all fake, something made up by his mind. He was just being paranoid. Psychosomatic or hypochondrias. Worried about having nightmares so he was envisioning himself having nightmares.

If that made any sense.

'Doctor, you okay?' Rory asked, cracking his knuckles.

The Doctor gave a disarming smile. 'Of course I am! Anyway, back to the bad thing.'

Jack frowned. 'Neither of those sound really good. Tosh, put in the parameters and search for any cluster of the waves this thing is giving off. It'll either tell us where it is or where its latest victim is.'

'And why didn't we do that before?' Owen asked.

The Impossible Man just ignored him. 'And then do a search for the traces. I want to know where the not-coma victims are.'

Tosh nodded and went to computer, typing furiously.

'Now,' Gwen said, picking up a phone. 'Who's ready for dinner?'

'I am,' Rory said instantly. 'I'm starving!'

The Doctor sniffed and pulled out his sonic. 'I'm fine. I think I'll just go back in the TARDIS.'

Jack headed up stairs. 'I'm good too.'

Amy watched them both go and then glanced at her husband. He was talking to Gwen about different pizza toppings. She frowned; something wasn't sitting right with her.

'Tosh,' she said quietly. 'How often does Jack turn down a meal?'

The slightly older woman looked at her. 'No very often. He knows if he misses a meal that'll make him a bit slower on the uptake. Why?'

'When you start the second scan, can you check specifically here first? See if any of that parasite is here?'

Tosh frowned. 'Amy—.'

'And don't mention this to anyone,' she interrupted. 'Please.'

She nodded. 'Okay. But I can' tell you anything until tomorrow. Maybe tomorrow afternoon.'

'Thank you,' Amy said gratefully.

The pizza came quickly. And she vaguely wondered who the hell ordered pizza under the name of Torchwood. Rory ate his slices like a man who was starved for several days. He didn't normally eat like that; it made Amy worry even more. Usually the Doctor would enjoy spending time with old friends and usually Rory would be more inclined to be polite even while eating pizza and hunting a parasitic alien.

Neither of her boys were acting the way they should. But they couldn't be sick, could they? They hadn't shown any signs of the flu…yet. She hoped they never would. Didn't seem likely, though. Whenever something bad happened someone in their little travelling group had something similarly bad happen to them.

'Amy, ready for bed?' Rory asked, wiping his mouth.

She nodded. 'Goodnight, everyone.'

Owen and Tosh were the only ones to say goodnight. Ianto was too busy staring up at Jack's office to notice anything (there was definitely something going on between those two.) and Jack was still hunched over his desk upstairs.

The console was empty, which was weird. It was still pretty decent time to be awake and the Doctor never slept at a time where she'd notice. When they went to bed he was still awake and when they woke up in the morning he was ready for an adventure. So where was he?

'I'm sure he's fine,' Rory said when she voiced her thoughts out loud. 'Probably in the library or the pool. He's been trying to figure out a way to fill it with gelatin.'

'…And why is he trying to do that?'

'Cause he's the Doctor? At this point I just smile and nod.'

They walked past a door they don't normally walk past, but considering it was the TARDIS it wasn't that surprising, and heard a little whimper.

Amy froze and cracked open the door despite Rory's protests. She peeked in, finding the Doctor curled in the middle of the bed with the covers pulled up to under his chin.

She grinned. 'Aw, he's so cute. Like a little kid.'

Rory looked over her shoulder and nodded. 'I think…this might be the first time we've seen him sleep. Voluntarily, at least.'

That earned a breathless, almost silent laugh. Last time they saw him sleep…well, let's just say it had to do with the Doctor's bowtie and a paranoid race of aliens.

The Doctor whimpered (again) and curled up a bit tighter, eyebrows furrowing together. His face was flushed a little pink and his breathing was erratic.

'He's having a nightmare,' Amy whispered and moved to go in, but Rory stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

He shook his head. 'I don't think that's a good idea. He's a Time Lord; theirs might be different than ours. We might make something worse if we do.'

She didn't like it but Rory had a fairly good point so Amy sighed and nodded before they resumed heading to their bedrooms.

She'll ask the Doctor about it tomorrow. If she did end up making something worse then she'd just fix it. Simple.

…Hopefully.

* * *

**Scene VII**

Amy woke up alone the next morning and the door to her room led directly to the console's stairs. Neither of her boys were in there, but the door was wide open and waiting for her.

She went out into the Hub, yawning and eating a doughnut she snagged from an open box. A few more hours of sleep would've been brilliant, but no. There was a stupid parasite ruining any chance of relaxing. Honestly, did the Doctor do this on purpose?

'Amy, you're awake!' Gwen yelled. 'Good. I need your help with a few things.'

And that's how Amy found herself helping Gwen and Owen put together some surgical equipment that may or may not actually be a torture device. It was supposedly suppose to disintegrate something within something without hurting the outside something. Like, put a crumpled paper in a cup and you can 'kill' the paper without scorching the cup.

That's the theory at least.

Every five minutes she would glance at Tosh, who would shake her head and go back to her computer. Still no news on the parasite search. Great.

The Doctor dropped off a piece that went in the conjunction of the doo-hickey and the thing-a-ma-jig before going back to his own research. He was too distracted and too quiet. Yet, no one seemed to notice.

'Doctor, I found something interesting,' Rory called from his place under a lot of books. 'It mentions your psychic pollen and several different psychic things. Maybe the parasite's in here.'

Jack came down stairs, reading something, and talking to Ianto. Well, more like arguing. 'Ianto, I'm fine.'

The Welshman wouldn't budge. 'You didn't eat last night or this morning.'

'So? Sometimes I skip a meal. Big deal.'

'No you don't.' Ianto stood in front of him, failing to realise their spat gained the attention of everyone, even the distracted Doctor. 'The only time you do is when you've...' He looked around at the staring faces and lowered his voice. 'When you've recently died. And you haven't…have you?'

Jack shook his head. 'No, Yan. I haven't. You'd know if I had. I'd tell you.'

Ianto's shoulders sagged. 'Jack,' he said quietly.

'Ianto,' he said equally as quiet. 'Thank you for your concern.' He put his free hand on his shoulder and pulled him in for a hug. 'But I'm fine.'

He yanked back, eyes wide. 'Doctor!' He shouted. 'Jack's sick!'

Jack pulled a sour face. 'Damn it,' he muttered.

Owen was the fastest to get to the Captain's side, Rory with his nursing skills kicking in wasn't too far behind, and the Doctor was just a step behind him. Owen took in Jack's paler than normal face and held a hand to his boss's forehead for a quick, rudimentary check. And then he swore violently when he felt his temperature to be way higher than it should.

'You're burning up, you idiot,' Owen scolded. 'You've been sore? Ache-y? Coughing? Nausea ...nightmares?'

Jack scowled and refused to meet his eyes. 'Yes, yes, yes, sometimes….no.' That earned him glares making him wilt. 'Fine, yes. But only little ones!'

The Doctor leaned over Owen to peer into Jack's blue eyes. 'You've been hearing voices,' he said matter-of-factly.

He glared at him. 'That's none of your business.'

Rory glared back. 'Actually, it is. If you're sick with the parasite, how much longer until you're _really _sick? And what if you've got all of it?' He grabbed the Captain's arm forcefully. 'Jack.'

The Doctor pulled the former-Roman away, eyes wide. 'Jack, we're only worried about you. It's amazing you haven't gone into a coma already.' He glanced back at Rory, concerned.

Jack started coughing, shoulders shaking as his body tried to hack out a lung. Ianto caught him when he threatened to go tumbling down the stairs.

'How long have you been sick?' Owen asked.

He didn't answer.

_'_Jack, _how long _have you been sick?'

'Since Danny,' he mumbled. 'Since we visited Danny Foster in the hospital the first time.

Owen swore again. 'You're going to be the death of me,' he told the immortal man. 'Ianto, help me take him down the hatch.'

Jack shook his head and pushed them away. 'Guys, I'm fine. I'm not out for the count yet.'

'No, you're not,' the Doctor said slowly. 'And why is that? Why aren't Owen and Gwen sick as well? And why haven't the five of them gotten sick either?'

Blue eyes gave him the thousand yard stare. 'I don't know, Doc. Why don't you tell me?'

The alien grimaced and turned away, scratching his head. 'I dunno. It's all a bit odd, actually. I can only think of a few reasons, but none of them are good…why am I coming up with all the answers?' He asked mildly. 'You're Torchwood, you're brilliant. And now you're desperate because your boss is sick, what's going on in those brains of yours? 'Cause I know something is.'

'Maybe it sentient,' Tosh said, somewhat distractedly. 'Maybe it's purposely moving and leaving traces from person to person. It infects one person who has strong enough nightmares long enough to plant a little bit of itself in their minds and then it hops to the next trumatised person. It probably senses Jack life and doesn't see the point in moving to anyone else…but then…' She clicked her mouse and read something, not finishing her thought.

'That would make sense,' Gwen said. 'But, like Rory said, does Jack have all of it? Or did it hop to someone else?'

'And who'd it hop to?' Amy asked.

'Amy,' Tosh whispered. 'Come here for a moment.'

The Scot did just that, keeping an eye on her boys as she shuffled to the computer expert. 'Yeah, what is it?'

Tosh titled the screen towards her a bit. 'That test you wanted. It's showing if the parasite is in the Hub or not.'

Amy stared at it, almost disbelieving. There was a red blob right where the Captain was standing, but the blob was too big to represent him.

'What is it, Pond?' The Doctor asked, coming down to them.

To the two women's horror a piece of the blob broke off, leaving it a reasonable size now, and came closer to them. The red head looked at the Doctor, _really_ looked at him, and blanched white from her own thickness. How did she not see this before? It was obvious! It was like she was back staring at statues with one head when the natives had two and she wasn't seeing the connection.

'How long?' She demanded. 'How long, Doctor? And don't you _dare_ lie to me.'

The Doctor grinned a ghost grin and tried to make it charming. 'Oh lookie, a whole bunch of reveals. This could be a television show…or the novelisation.' His face suddenly washed of color and he put a hand to his mouth.

Gwen was the fastest to react and yanked the Doctor to the nearest bathroom. Back as a PC she was use to the newbies not handling things very well, be it a dead body or a surprise at the worst moment (don't ask her about the Christmas of '06, _that _was a bloody nightmare).

'I got him,' she yelled behind her. 'Start discussin' and plannin'!'

'How can he be sick?' Amy asked, staring in the direction her raggedy man went. 'How is that possible?'

Jack walked down, a little wobbly but pretty steady. 'The same way I am. He came in contact with the parasite…I'm thinking of a theory and it's not a very good theory.'

Ianto stood close behind him, silent support. 'If it's the same one I'm thinking, the yeah, it's not a very good theory.' He glanced back at Rory.

The Captain followed the Welshman's look and decided they weren't thinking the same thing. He was thinking he and the Doctor were probably going to get the parasite easier given their less than human biology (granted he was human, but 51st century biology and 21st century biology weren't the same thing, just look at his pheromones!). If something was alien compared to the current victims then it was easier to get to it.

Don't ask him how that was possible. It didn't make any sense to him though, but he's seen it happen. So, in some way he had yet to understand, it did make sense.

Owen poked a few things on his chart, though it did nothing. 'Okay, the Doctor's sick. We've got that. But so are you. Why is he getting sick faster than you? He only saw Danny yesterday night, you saw him yesterday morning. And, not to mention, you've seen all the coma patients. You should've gotten sicker sooner.'

'Jeez, thanks.'

He checked his temperature again and frowned. 'And your fever's gone down. Do you ever do anything right?'

'Seriously,' Tosh said. 'I think this proves my sentient theory. It purposely chose the Doctor. Maybe it senses he's not human and thinks he can give it a better meal.'

'That makes too much sense.'

'Jack!' Gwen yelled, interrupting their conversation. 'Jack, it's the Doctor!'

The sheer panic in her voice made him break instantly into a run, dreading whatever he might find. When they got to an almost empty storage room that was next to the closest bathroom Jack, unfortunately, learned his dread was not misplaced.

'I have to,' the Doctor was muttering. 'I have to save—I _have _to.' He banged his bloody fists on the blank wall, leaving behind streaks of bright red. 'Please!' He pleaded, his nails scratching until they left gouge marks.

'Stop!' Jack shouted. He grabbed the Doctor's bloody hands in hopes of bringing him back to earth, and looked at him straight in the eye, not liking how he couldn't focus on his face. 'You've got to stop before you hurt yourself. Do you understand? You've done enough. _You have done enough_,' he repeated firmly. 'You've got to know when to stop.'

'I've got to keep going,' the Doctor whispered brokenly. 'I must not stop for anything.' He weakly tried to pull away. 'She's still there. I can save her. I know I can.' He closed his eyes tightly. 'If I don't…If I don't she'll be stuck in the void forever. Jack, she'll be _stuck_.'

Jack's heart broke. 'Doctor,' he said softly. 'Rose is fine. She's in the alternate world, with her mom and Peter, and Mickey. Remember? You told me that yourself. She's fine.'

The Doctor's legs gave out and he brought Jack down with him. He stared at the wall behind the immortal man dazedly, searching for something only he could see. 'But I saw her,' he mumbled. 'She slipped. She fell into the void.'

Jack put a hand on the alien's cheek, flinching at the fever that raged under his skin, and forced him to look at him again. 'Peter saved her,' he reminded him softly. 'At the last minute. He kept her from going into the void. You saw that happen, you told me about it…Doctor, this is a nightmare.' He squeezed one of the Doctor's hands, relief flooding him when he saw a spark of focus. Jack hated to do this, but he squeezed again and dug his nails in a little. The pain brought the Doctor more into the present.

'J-Jack?' The Doctor blinked and met his eyes almost fearfully.

'Yeah, Doctor, it's me.'

He gripped the other man's shirt tightly. 'Are…Are you sure? Are you sure she's safe?'

'Yes,' he said firmly. 'I'm sure.' He gestured for Amy and Rory who were standing a little ways away worriedly. 'How 'bout you go in the TARDIS and get some rest, have Rory look at your hands?'

Rory kneeled next to him, grabbing the Doctor's elbow gently. 'Come on, Doctor,' he murmured. He helped the alien stand and gave Jack a grateful nod before Amy and him helped the Doctor stumble to the blue police box.

Normally Jack would have Owen check out anyone injured in the Hub, but the Doctor was so frazzled he probably needed a familiar face taking care of him.

Jack followed the trio into the TARDIS a few minutes later, blinking at the sheer shining-ness of the new 'desktop theme'. It looked a whole lot futuristic than the other one and a lot like a rich kid's play toy, but it seemed a bit more detached, less welcoming than the coral one. He ran a hand on the railing as he headed up to the balcony and to the only opened door. But there was still something comforting about the old girl.

The open door led to the Doctor's room, full of knickknacks and old (new, depending on the perspective) historical things with a lot of science stuff thrown in for fun. The ceiling was an optical mirage of stars and galaxies and a round window showed him a view of the stars that technically couldn't be there since the machine was parked in the Hub and not floating in space.

Amy shushed him silently when she caught sight of him, and with good reason. The Doctor sat next to her on the bed, using her shoulder as a pillow while Rory kneeled in front of him and wrapped up his bloody hands. Old green eyes were half lidded and he was half out of it, seemingly staring at nothing, but really staring at whatever nightmares were in his head.

Rory moved out of the way and sat on the Doctor's other side, close enough to touch.

Jack took the companion's previous place, his hands on the Doctor's knees, and peered into his face. 'How ya feeling, Doc?'

'My hands hurt,' he mumbled, sounding like a child. He blinked lethargically. 'How are you? Guess you're feeling a bit better?'

'How'd you know?'

He smiled, lips cracking as the fever burned. 'Psychic parasite verses psychic Time Lord, you glimpse a few things.' His eyes slid close. 'It likes me.'

Rory slid an arm around him comfortingly.

The Doctor sighed. 'Danny…and the others… should be… waking up...soon.' His head rolled forward.

Panic set in. 'Hey, hey!' He grabbed the alien's shoulder. 'Doctor!'

The door slammed shut.

The Doctor collapsed against the immortal man, unresponsive and dead weight. Jack swore under his breath.

'Damnit, Damnit. Bloody fu—_Damnit_!'

Amy yanked open the door only to find the medical bay instead of the console room. She growled under her breath. 'This is not the time for games!'

'No, it's fine,' Rory said. 'The Hub isn't equipped for actual patients and we can't take him to the hospital.'

'He's right.' Jack maneuvered the Doctor so he was holding the alien bridle style, his head limp and legs dangling, and carried him to place him on one of the three beds. 'She'll let us leave once she knows we're not taking him out of here.'

Sure enough, when they turned around, the console room was back and Jack went flying out of it.

'Owen!' Jack barked. 'The Doctor's in a coma. Get whatever the hell you need and get in here. Tosh, Ianto, I want a cure. Anything. Find it. Gwen…you're with Owen.'

* * *

**Scene VIII**

He honestly wasn't expecting the darkness. Really. He was more expecting a world on fire and screams of the dying. Those he couldn't save and twisted versions of moments when did save them…only it was too late. Anything could go wrong and did.

The darkness, though. That wasn't on the list.

He ran a hand through his hair and looked around, but that did no good. The only thing he could see was his hand in front of his face.

_'LISTEN TO ME!'_

He whirled around, eyes wide. No. No, it couldn't be. That couldn't be his fear. He didn't fear anything happening to him. He feared for his friends and for strangers. Never for himself.

_'No! No! No, not me! The TARDIS! And I'm not _in _the TARDIS, am I?'_

His breath caught in his throat, making him choke and fall to the ground. He coughed and coughed until he could barely breathe.

_' Please! Listen to me! Total event collapse! Every sun will supernova! Every moment in history! The whole universe will never have existed! _Please! Listen to me! _No! Please listen to me!' _

He couldn't move, he couldn't breathe. He could only watch at nothing happened all around him. Darkness seeped into his mind, twisting around until it could find his weakness, _all _his nightmares.

_'The TARDIS is exploding right now and I'm the only one who can stop it. LISTEN TO ME!'_

The most recent moment when he was at his weakness. A time when he couldn't move, couldn't see the strands of time. Cut off from the universe. What better way to dive into the protected mind of a Time Lord?

And then the pain came. Burning from front to back. He screamed, loud and clear, but no one heard him. No one was coming for him.

'No one ever does, Doctor. Why should they now?'

'…Rory?'

'Oh no, Doctor. Not Rory. _Never_ Rory.'


	2. Episode 2: Nothing to Fear But

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Doctor Who.

Season Notes: In honor of the new season coming out soon.

This was originally a really long project I was never going to post until I had it all written, but oh well. There are seven "episodes". Each chapter is an episode (originally, each scene was a chapter, but that changed). Episodes 1 and 2 are two-parters, they go together, and episodes 6 and 7 are the same-two parters, for those four episodes the scene numbering goes well. So, episode 1 has scenes 1-16 (not really) while episode 2 has scenes 17 to 25 (not really) while the counting starts over in episode 2, 3, 4, and 5, and 6, but 7 has the continuation of 6

Takes place after the christmas special. In my head, the Doctor picks up the Ponds at that time (after dinner of course)

And I'm not sure if River's going to show up.

Warnings: A lot of overlap, I'm sorry. And probably plot holes. Also, a lot of continuity of classic and nuwho.

This whole thing is un-beta. Anyone who sees anything out of the ordinary, let me know and I'll fix it.

And one last word (For those who haven't seen Torchwood or some of any Doctor Who)...Spoilers!

* * *

I Can Run Forever

Mikkal

Episode 2: Nothing to Fear But... (2)

* * *

Episode Notes: Special guests: Torchwood (if you can't tell by the title for those who have seen the first episode of Torchwood's second season (John Hart, anyone?) or for those who haven't seen it and still don't know the trivia behind it.

* * *

**Scene IX**

'…Rory.'

Amy shot up from her dazed slouch, instantly going to the Doctor's side. Only to sag in disappointment when she saw him still out of it. His complexion was getting paler, but there was a dangerous flush to his cheeks, and sweat lined his brow. She moved his hair out of his face, frowning at the heat.

Her husband was on his other side, fast asleep while holding one of the Doctor's hand in both of his. He was holding so tightly the alien's fingers were turning white.

It had only been a few hours since the Doctor collapsed, but between trying to figure it everything out and trying to keep the Doctor's fever down to respectable Time Lord level they were all exhausted.

'Rory.' She shook his shoulder. 'Rory, wake up. His fever's getting higher.'

He woke with a start, crushing the hand he held. 'Wha? What? Amy?'

She shook her head, the corner of her mouth twitching up. 'I said the Doctor's getting hotter.'

Rory frowned and glanced at him. 'You're right. Maybe we should call Ja—.'

The Torchwood team came bursting in at that moment, Jack shoving his way through his friends/co-workers to stand in front of Rory.

'GET AWAY FROM HIM!' Jack shouted, aiming his gun straight at the man's face.

Rory shot his hands up, dropping the Doctors, at stared at the barrel of then gun worriedly.

'What are you doing?' Amy yelled. She tried to go to her husband's side but Tosh held her back.

'Don't,' the slightly older woman warned. 'That's not Rory.'

'Of course I'm Rory,' he said. 'Who else would I be?'

Jack growled, jabbing his gun threateningly. 'Shut up,' he snapped. 'You haven't been Rory for a while now. Stop hiding and show yourself.'

Rory snorted disbelievingly and then started giggling, high pitched and oh-so _not_ Rory. 'How'd you know?' He asked, eye lashes fluttering like a flirty woman. Highly disturbing.

'It was easy,' Gwen said. 'You went to the loo. Something showed up on the scans. Jack was better, so it wasn't him, and the Doctor's in a coma. You've been acting weird since the hospital.'

Amy blinked, everything coming back to her. 'You never touch the Doctor,' she said. 'He always touches you. And ever since the hospital…you've been too close. Takin' every opportunity to touch him.' She swallowed, realizing she shouldn't be talking to him like he was actually him. 'Rory touched Danny Foster _then _the Doctor scanned him. You jumped to Rory and then when the Doctor touched his neck because of the argument you jumped to the Doctor.' And she wasn't affected because of her gloves and sleeves. Oh God.

Rory—no, _It_ smirked. 'Close, but no dice,' It said in a sing song tone. 'I didn't jump to the precious Doctor. I merely… extended my connection from Rory to the little Time Lord. Granted, I had to call all the pieces of me inside all of you and everyone back. But it was worth it. You, Jack, have so much. But the Doctor here…he's got _more_.'

'Let him go,' Jack said firmly.

'Oh, but I did.' It waved Rory's arms. 'See, I let go. Just like you told me to.'

Ianto gripped his gun tighter. 'You know what he means. Let the Doctor go from your mind tricks.'

'But I don't want to,' It whined. 'He's got such a long life and so many nightmares!' It grinned savagely. 'Did you know one of his greatest fears is a world burning? He first saw one that was really an alternate universe with humans turned Primords. (Someone else had _loads_ of fun with that one). But hey, a burning world is a burning world. Now imagine that fear times ten. He burned his own world! How awesome is that!'

Jack's face twisted in disgust. 'You're sick.'

'No,' It snapped. 'I'm natural. I'm a natural part of the universe. But not you, Captain Jack Harkness. You're _not_.'

Amy's heart was in her throat. Both her boys were in horrible danger and she couldn't think of any way to stop it. She stepped up behind Jack. 'What do we do?'

It forced Rory's feet so It was closer to the Time Lord. 'You do nothing while I make his nightmares worse. Won't that be fun? Maybe I'll free up his movements, so you can hear him.'

The Doctor began muttering, moving restlessly as his eyes flickered under his lids. His fingers twitched, bunching the bed sheet in his fists.

'No…No,' he mumbled. He said something else in a language they couldn't understand, but sounded so beautiful it could only be Gallifrayen. Then he let out an anguished scream, thrashing around frantically.

'Stop it! Leave him alone!'

'Why?' It challenged. 'What are you going to do about it? You can't shoot me or else you hurt dear Rory as well. But that won't be the first time, would it?'

'Tie him up,' Jack ordered. He waited until Ianto and Gwen were well under way with the rather compliant creature before turning to the distraught Scottish woman. 'Amy, snap out of it,' he said quietly. 'We're going to save both of them. I promise.'

She gripped the hair on the side of her head, trying to think of anything other than what was going on. 'What do we do?' The Doctor's screams still rung in her ears.

Jack gripped his gun almost preemptively and sighed.

'You don't know, do you?' She accused, her panic and concern turning into anger. Justified, but she was directing it at the wrong person.

'Amy!' he said sharply, shutting her up. 'I do know what to do, but it's dangerous. Really dangerous. There're two things we need to do. One, find a cure. This thing may be sentient, but it's still a parasite.'

'That's not so bad. What's the second?'

He glanced back at his oldest friend, feeling just a little bit helpless and dread. 'The psychic connection. We need to break it, then give him the cure. We give him the cure before and he could die.' With no hope of regeneration. 'But that means someone has to interrupt it.'

'You can't do that, Jack,' Tosh hissed, practically reading her boss's mind. 'You're just _barely _telepathic. Just enough to keep people from reading your mind. The strain will kill you.'

'Which is why _I'm _doing it,' he said grimly. 'Can't have any of you dying on me. The Doctor would kill me twice over.'

'But,' Amy protested. 'It'll cause him more guilt, more nightmares if you die for him.'

Jack winked at her. 'I'm a lot stronger than I look, trust me.'

_Trust me, I'm the Doctor._

'Ianto, I want you to guard that parasite. Knock it out if you think it's getting loose.' He winced. 'Sorry, Rory. Owen, with me. You're going to keep an eye on me and the Doctor. Tosh, I want a cure, yesterday. Gwen, got check on the coma patients. They should be awake by now. And I want all the hospital's records on them.' He turned to Amy. 'Amy, I want you to relax. Take a deep breath and watch the Doctor for any signs of waking up. Make sure he doesn't freak out.'

'What about Rory?'

'Ianto's got him. He's probably not even awake in there.'

It snickered, worrying them all greatly. It had been too quiet while they were planning and now there was a disturbing manic gleam in Its eye.

'Jack,' Tosh warned again.

And Jack just ignored her. He walked up to the Doctor's side, staring down at his face. He had stopped screaming long ago, but there was still pain crinkling the corner of his eyes and mouth.

He took a deep breath, concentrating. He's never actually forced himself into a powerful mind before. Jack knew the technique, but his skills were never up to par with something or someone who lived as a telepath.

It was just hope he was riding on right now. Hope that living as long as he did and the vortex bringing him back gave him enough juice. Blocking his mind from and sending instructions to someone like a 21st century human with a pendant was much different than what he was attempting now.

Jack placed his fingers along the Doctor's temples and thought about every one of his moments with him. Every alien he's met that reminds him of him. Every attack adverted thanks to him. He thought of Rose and the Master. Of Martha Jones and Mickey Smith. TARDIS. Dalek. Satellite Five. Siltheen. The Year That Never Was. Everything he could think of, everything that made them connected.

And then he _shoved_ himself into the Doctor's mind.

* * *

**Scene X**

Oh, Susan. His wonderful, lovely, beautiful Susan.

He was back in the TARDIS with his granddaughter and Ian, and Barbara, in the image of his younger self. One of his firsts if he remembered correctly.

They were planning a trip. It was a good day for him, less stuffy than he normally was. His recent companions would find that hilarious, how stuffy he use to be. Even he had to admit he was stuffy.

And he still managed to find time to snark with Ian. Those were some fun times.

He grinned when Susan and Barbara got into a debate about eating verses cooking. It was always a sore spot. Barbara was good at cooking and his granddaughter was good at eating. But Susan had a tendency to go over board and eat Ian's share. Neither human was very happy about that.

Happy.

Why was he so happy? Where were the nightmares? His worst fears coming to life?

_'During all the years I've been taking care of you, you in return have been taking care of me.'_

His insides froze for some unexplainable reason.

_'You are still my grandchild and always will be. But now, you're a woman too. I want you to belong somewhere, to have roots of your own. With David you will be able to find those roots and live normally like any woman should do.'_

No. That was a good day. A happy day. A sad, but happy day. For Susan and for him. Why would that be a nightmare? Why would he be so scared of that moment?

'_Believe me my dear, your future lies with David and not with a silly old buffer like me. One day, I shall come back.'_

The scene switched. He wasn't in the TARDIS anymore, it was behind him now. Ian and Barbara already inside and Susan stood in front of him, David Campbell right behind her. They both looked so happy, so in love.

_'Yes, I shall come back. Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine.'_

He reached out for her even though that's not how he remembered it. He tried to speak. Tried to warn her. Something bad was going to happen. Something terrible. Something twisted, the memory all wrong.

_'Goodbye Susan. Goodbye my dear.'_

And then the Earth crumbled around them. She lunged for David as he begun to fall into the abyss of nothing. They stared at each other, both about to cry and both knowing this wasn't going to end well. His fingers slipped and then clung harder, but it wasn't enough. One finger and another. She cried out for him, watching him fall, fall, fall.

'You did this!' She shouted at him, refusing to look away from where the human fell. 'You lead me to believe that I could spend the rest of my life with him. He died, grandfather.' Susan started sobbing, talking about not what just happened, but would happen in the real timeline. 'He died long before I even needed to regenerate.' She flinched away from his embrace. 'This is all your fault!'

Words failed him. 'Susan…'

'No!'

And then, to his horror, a ray burst from behind him. Suddenly the TARDIS wasn't there anymore and it was just swarm after swarm of daleks. Old and new, military colors and the disturbing rainbow the daleks managed to pull from him during an alternate WWII. Every dalek in time and space converged on the two of them

'Susan! We have to ru—.'

He turned around to see Susan on the ground, eyes open wide and lifeless. There was no fast healing, there was no golden light. His last living relative was dead. Dead from a dalek.

And the scene switched again. This time is was Susan crumpled on the floor of a kitchen, a gun in one hand and a picture of an elder David in another. She was older, much older.

She refused to live her life without her husband, and thus refused to regenerate.

He fell to his knees, cradling her body closely. Tears ran down his cheeks, this was his fault. This was all his fault. He condemned her to a life of fear and loneliness thinking it was the right thing to do and look how it turned out.

His granddaughter dead.

His scream seemed to echo throughout the whole nightmare house as he rocked her body for who knows how long.

_'…continue until it rips the time vortex apart!'_

Susan dissolved into darkness and gray, leaving him empty handed and oh-so alone.

_'That's sui…'_

His head shot up. The Master? And the his shoulders sagged, he felt drained and it was only the first nightmare. How could he handle the rest knowing they were just going to get worse and more innocent people were going to die by his hand?

_'We will ascend! To become creatures of consciousness alone; free of these bodies, free of time, and cause and effect, while creation itself ceases to be!'_

He was holding Wilfred's gun at the wrong moment, trying to decide between the Time Lords, his poor, corrupted people, and the Master, his old and use to be dearest friend.

_'Then, take me with you, Lord President. Let me ascend into glory!'_

His finger faltered on the trigger. Neither Time Lords paid any attention to the gun in his hand and his trigger finger starting to move. No. No. No! No, he didn't want—he shouldn't have to—Please! No!

_'You are diseased! Albeit a disease of our own making. No more…'_

And now they noticed. And now they debated, but he was still frozen. Barrel now trained on one Time Lord. One shot could end the world. The Master dies the Time Lords rip reality apart. Kill the Lord President and the Master rules over Gallifrey and brings it out of the Time Lock even more.

_'The final act of your life is murder. But which one of us?'_

He should tell the Master to move, get out of the way. Let him shoot the last white point star. But he doesn't. He pulls the trigger and the bullet makes a small hole in the front of his head and blasts a gaping wound in the back.

His oldest friend—_Koschei_— falls to the ground, eyes wide. He couldn't regenerate, there was no way. Rassilon grinned and the world flared white. Wilfred just stared at him in horror as reality chewed away.

And then Martha was killed right before him, taken down by the Toclafane without even a chance. She reached out for him, reaching and reaching, but he didn't reach back. There was blame in her eyes, he did nothing to help her as the Master laughed gleefully then started snogging his wife.

This wasn't what happened. Martha got away. MARTH GOT AWAY! Martha got away. Martha got away. Martha…got away…away, didn't she?

'Doctor…'

Now Jack. No, not him. He couldn't die. He couldn't die, but he could be tortured with him powerless to stop it.

'Doctor!'

Wait…His head shot up and he found himself in the TARDIS once again, wearing his current image. And then it all came crashing down. He sobbed, burying his head in his knees. All his fault. All those deaths. They happened and they were all his fault. They weren't nightmares, they were memories. They had to be.

He choked and scrabbled at his bowtie. It was suddenly too tight, but he knew it wasn't the tie.

'Doctor, snap out of it!'

Jack was in front of him, gripping the sides of his face and peering into his eyes with so much concern it was unbelievable.

'Doctor,' he said softly. 'Doctor, can you hear me?'

'You're not real,' he croaked. 'The Master has you. You're…You're still chained.' This time he muffled the sob. 'You can't be here. You can't.'

Jack moved his hands and shook his shoulders. 'Hey, hey! Doctor, think,' he ordered firmly. 'We're in your head. These are just nightmares. Remember? The parasite?'

He squeezed his eyes shut. Just a hope spot, just a hope spot.

'Not a hope spot,' Jack told him, pressing their foreheads together. 'Doctor, use that brilliant mind of yours and _think!_'

* * *

**Scene XI**

Ianto wouldn't let her _near_ Rory, let alone touch him. Then again, though, she guessed that he wasn't exactly her husband now. Being possessed and all. So, in the end, she decided to spend her time clutching the Doctor's hand, fetching stiff for Owen in an attempt to be _useful_, and generally ignoring the disconcerting way Jack stood next the Doctor, hovering over him and staring blankly with his fingers still framing the Doctor's face.

'How much longer?' She asked, voice cracking a little.

The Doctor's eyes fluttered, showing white slits, and he groaned softly. His head shifted and tilted towards Jack before he was still again.

Amy clutched him tighter, moving closer and bracing herself on the bad. 'Doctor? Can you hear me?' She got no answer. 'Is he waking up?' She asked, just for confirmation.

The Torchwood medical examiner frowned and checked his machines. 'All indications say yes.'

Just then Jack crumpled to the floor, eyes wide and uncomfortably dead looking. Amy dropped her raggedy man's hand and rushed to his side, panicking on the inside and worried on the out.

'He's dead,' Owen said simply, sitting back on his heels. He nodded at Ianto subtly, assuredly. 'Being caught between two psychics warring it out on each other was too much. His brain fried.'

'_What_?' How could he be so calm about this? His boss just died! The Doctor's friend just _died_! 'How can he be dead?'

Owen gave her an annoyed glance. 'Weren't you listening? Psychic mind war? Fried brain? His mind's dead so he's dead.'

How could he be so callous about his boss'—his _friend's _death? Even she managed to show emotion when the Doctor/Tessalecta died and she _notorious_ for being a complete ginger at keeping her emotions in check.

Jack suddenly jerked up, breathing in a great gasp of air frantically. He reached out blindly for something, anything, to ground himself and Owen was more than happy to help. He smiled at the pale man thankfully, having a little moment…

…that was completely ruined by Amy shrieking and scrambling back. 'You're alive! H-How can you be alive…Owen said you were dead!'

'Can't die,' Jack said simply, still gasping a little. 'Fixed point in time. I _have _to be in the universe.' He grasped the side of the bed and hauled himself up. 'Is he awake?'

'Didn't get a chance to look. You died too fast.'

He rolled his eyes then shook the Doctor's shoulder. 'Doc,' he murmured. 'Wake up.'

This time it was the Doctor who shot up with a gasp of air like he had never breathed before in his life and suddenly found out he needed it to live. He doubled over the side and dry heaved violently, trembling so hard he was threatening to fall off the bed. Tears ran down his cheeks and he whimpered.

Jack braced him carefully, keeping him from falling, and talked in soothing words that held no real meaning.

It seemed like forever until he stop heaving, his cheeks dry with trails still marking where the tears fell. He leaned forward a little and rested his head on his friend's shoulder.

The died-but-still-alive man gestured to her. _Comfort him_, he mouthed.

Amy walked hesitantly over, not sure about this impossible man, but knowing he was right. She put a hand on her raggedy man's head, burying her fingers in his hair, and leaning close. She guided his head to her chest and practically rocked him like he was a small child.

The Doctor clung to her with all of his failing strength and sobbed silently.

'Aw, poor baby need a mummy's hug?' Rory's voice snarked.

Amy ignored It, but Jack shot up and stomped over. 'The Doc's free,' he snarked. 'Let Rory go.'

It smirked. 'But he's so handsome! Died so many times, for no reason. He's a strong one. I think I'll keep him permanently.'

She gasped. 'Don't you dare.'

'And what are ya going to do about it?'

…Amy had no idea. The Doctor had the plans and the smarts, Rory was the strength (especially since the Big Bang Two), but what was she? The snark, the sarcasm. The heart? What kind of lame power is heart, anyway?

'Thought so.' Its smirk got a bit madder. 'By the way? You lot are _rubbish_ at tying knots.' It jabbed out and elbowed Ianto in the kidneys and grabbed his gun quickly before snaking an arm around his neck and holding the barrel to the Welshman's temple. It inched towards the door of the TARDIS, Jack and Owen following carefully. 'I'm, unfortunately, still hungry. And since Jackie took my very delicious meal, I think I'll go spread the nightmares somewhere else.'

Ianto's eyes told then to just shoot the damn thing or knock It out (so the Doctor wouldn't get pissed), but they refused on the account he was in the way. The humans and the possessed backed out pass Tosh and through the door.

'Enjoy finding the cure!' It shouted gleefully. 'That's the only way you'll free little Rory Pond and put the Doctor back together again. Also I'd be getting pretty worried right about now. I think Amelia's a little overwhelmed.'

With that It shot something at random, making them all duck, and pushed Ianto into the other two men. It shot again, just for the fun of it, and took off before any of Torchwood could do a thing. Using Rory's long, agile legs It ran for the hills and behind a building. There must have been some alien influence, no human could run that fast.

Jack swore and threw something that set off sparks when it collided with the wall. 'Tosh!' He shouted. 'Track It, now!' He jabbed a finger at Owen. 'Use her research. I want that cure, I'm tired of asking. Ianto,' he faltered. 'Coffee.'

The Welshman's eyes turned hard, but he understood. He failed. He let the parasite get free and run away with the companion's body. There was nothing more for him to do than to make coffee, rub his sore side (shouldn't an elbow to the kidney's hurt more than this?)…and do a little more research of his own.

He hated that he had to order him for just coffee, but there was nothing more he could do. Ianto screwed up and he had to know that. Jack stormed to the TARDIS, Its little comment about Amy being overwhelmed didn't help with the current situation.

And she looked fine to him. Jack sighed with relief and watched Amy help the Doctor lay down. He was still trembling, but not as bad, and looked to be falling asleep.

'Sorry, Doctor,' she said quietly, shaking him from his doze. 'You need to stay awake. Owen said he wasn't sure if It was gone completely yet.'

He stared at her like a lost puppy. 'Where's Rory?' He asked hoarsely. The first words he's spoken since he woke up judging by Amy's startled expression. The Doctor's eyes narrowed and he pushed Amy away so he could sit up. 'Jack, where's Rory?' Apparently he wasn't completely out of it when It ran away. 'How long?'

'Since Danny Foster,' she said quietly.

The Doctor squeezed his eyes shut. 'After the Silent,' he murmured, mostly talking to himself. 'I heard It, in my head,' he said louder. 'I think I know what it is now.' He slid off the bed and his knees promptly buckled.

Jack lunged for one arm while Amy grabbed the other. 'You're still technically sick. And in no position to go out saving the world,' he informed his friend sternly.

'I'm not saving the world. I'm saving Rory and that's equally, if not more, important.'

* * *

**Scene XII**

He tripped and his shoulder slammed into the brick wall to keep himself from falling. It didn't work. His face landed in a puddle, his now injured shoulder hitting the ground. Rory groaned and pulled himself up to lean against the wall.

Why was he running? He couldn't really remember. It was all just a blur right now. There was flashes of the Doctor…dying? He was dying? Or already died…Why was he dying? Was he even dying? And then faces, angry, sad, blue, and red. The red must be Amy. Maybe the blue was Jack or Ianto. He was near them, wasn't he?

But why was he running?

And then there was a gun. Pointing at his face, pointing at Ianto's head. Two shots, no blood, no screams…did Torchwood even get scared?

He groaned and cradled his throbbing head in his hands. This was not helping him remember and it just made him have a major head ache. He hefted himself up, maybe he should head back? Have the Doctor or Owen look at him?

Rory stood up and a crippling pain stabbed him in the stomach. He choked on a shout and slammed back against the wall, biting his lip.

Ow, ow, ow, _ow_.

…He was really hungry. There was a dull ache at the pit of his stomach that growled at him. He needed to eat something. He always had to eat.

It shook it head and stood up, shaking out its limbs. Well, now it was time to eat. Now that the stupid Fixed Point ruined the best mean it had in ages it had to go searching for another person equivalent to the Doctor.

Yeah, good luck with that.

Though, it did have all of Wales. And, who knows, maybe it could branch out to the rest of the European countries. This planet had so many of the emotionally weak species it was like a buffet.

Time to eat.

* * *

'It's a kellion,' the Doctor said quietly, unable to speak any louder. He sank into the seat a frowning Owen offered him and forced himself to take deep breathes. 'Don't know why I didn't see it sooner. _Stupid_,' he muttered.

Jack shook his head. 'You're not stupid. When would you have time to figure that out?' He reasoned. 'You were here, for what, three hours, before you got infected? It was probably messing with you after that so you wouldn't figure it out.'

He shuddered at the thought. 'Don't remind me,' he groaned. 'Anyway. A kellion is a sentient parasite from the planet Kellia Vos in the Gartinuta System. They're about a third down in the food chain. There's only two species in the whole system that's immune. And, incidentally, the whole universe too.'

'How do we get rid of it?' Amy asked. 'You can get rid of it, right?'

After a little hesitation the Doctor nodded. 'I can, but it won't be pleasant for Rory.'

She swallowed. 'It…It won't kill him, will it?'

'…no.'

'_Doctor_.'

'No,' he repeated more firmly. 'It won't kill him. I'll make sure of that.'

'What do we do first, Doctor?' Jack asked, slowly inching behind the alien.

He closed his eyes briefly. He was so tired, every bone weighed down, his head was fuzzy and slow, and there was an ache through his whole body that just wouldn't go away. 'First we find him, of course. Can you use that track-y thing again?'

Tosh nodded. 'Yeah, definitely.'

'Do it,' he ordered before cracking his knuckles and started typing away at computer, pain crinkled around his eyes. 'I just…need…a little som—ah ha!'

Jack leaned over him, hand on his shoulder to steady him. 'What language is that?' He squinted.

'Does it matter?' Tosh exclaimed in surprise. 'How'd he even get that on there? Everythin's Earth or whatever we've scanned. That's a database.'

'Ah, the joys of being me!' The Doctor said joyfully. 'Tosh, are you tracking Rory?'

'Of course.'

He scratched his chin. 'We need to get to him. I've figured it out, but I _need _to be in contact, _physical _contact, with him.'

Jack tore his gaze away from the horrible text on the screen and glared at him, lowering his voice. 'I'm really getting tired of this, Doctor,' he said. 'I don't want anymore people dying.'

'Pish, posh,' the Doctor said dismissively. 'No one's going to die. Don't be silly. Everyone's going to live. Rory, me, the kellion. I'm not too sure about that one, though,' he added absently. 'Okay, let's get going.' He hopped to his feet and immediately regretted it.

Jack and Amy caught him just as his knees buckled and directed his collapse down towards the chair instead of the floor.

'I doubt you're in any condition to go chasing after Rory,' Amy said sternly, her heart growing tighter. Her boys. Both hurting. Only one of them could save the other and the Doctor was no in the shape for saving.

The Doctor rubbed his eyes harshly. 'I'm fine,' he insisted. 'I need to do this. That kellion is completely controlling him. He has _hours _before it burns him up from the inside out. It said he was strong, anyone else with all the Its essence would be _dead _already.' He shoved himself up, a bit more steady that before. 'Tosh, where is he?'

* * *

Hungry. It was so hungry. There was fear all around it, but there wasn't enough. There wasn't enough time to eat it all, not enough time to even infect someone new. Ah, that was it. It wouldn't infect someone _new_.

'Can I help you?'

It made Rory smile gently. 'Hello, I'm with the hospital. I've come to check on Danny Foster.'

The woman at the door frowned. 'The doctors said he was fine. Released him a few hours ago, obviously. Is there something wrong?'

'No, no,' It said. 'Just a follow up, just to sure. He just woke from a coma, those are pretty nasty long term if they aren't kept in line.'

Her eyes widened. 'Of course, of course. Come in. He's in the kitchen with Scott.'

It scowled. More humans, great. All It wanted to do was have its last meal quickly and quietly. One way or another, It wasn't going to be on this forsaken, backwater planet anymore. It twitched Rory's lips into a strained smile, barely trying anymore.

'Danny, there's someone here from the hospital to check on you,' the woman said.

The boy looked tired, still sickly. Perfect. Its smile was a bit more real now as he clapped a hand on his shoulder, already feeling the nightmares clawing their way to the forefront of the human man's mind.

His eyes slid close and his head fell back, fork dropping to the plate with a loud clatter then to the floor. Its eyes fluttered shut in bliss, Rory's lips moving in what could be savor.

'What are you doing?' The brother shouted, all the sounds of him jumping to his feet dim.

It didn't even bother open its eyes to slam its open hand in Scott Foster's throat, sending him back and choking and possibly crushing it. The woman was the same, an extra hit to her chest just for laughs.

Danny groaned, shifting as his father came at him. It couldn't believe its luck, why didn't it do this before?

Of course, the Doctor had to taste too good.

Something clamped on Rory's arm. Everything was too good to notice even the outside presences.

_'Get out of them both. Now!'_

Its eyes shot open in surprise, its straggling essence draining quickly from the boy, and it was suddenly shoved back to the ground, grip slipping from Danny's shoulder. Amy rushed to the human's side, holding him up as he woke slowly.

Angry green eyes stared at it, one hand clamped around its wrist and the covering its mouth. 'Let him go,' the Doctor growled out loud. 'Do it, before you wish you never messed with any of these humans.'

Its laugh was muffled behind the Time Lord's hand and it shook Rory's head. Never going to give up, that was its policy. Nice policy too, got a lot of meals out of it.

The Doctor's eyes grew darker, promising something horrible. Something worthy of the name _The Oncoming Storm_.

'Doctor,' Amy said softly. 'Don't do…Don't do anything you'll regret.'

The good Time Lord didn't reply, just closed his eyes in resignation and pressed his head against the hand holding Rory's mouth shut. 'Please,' he whispered, 'Please, don't make me do this. You can live. I can give you place full of fear, but not those living.'

_'Oh please_,' It said in Rory's mind, smirking. '_Where's the fun in that?'_

_('Can I trust you, River Song?_' laughter._ 'If you like. But where's the fun in that?')_

The Doctor sighed. 'I don't want to do this,' he murmured before he closed his eyes and It screamed

* * *

**Scene XIII**

Amy cried out when Rory screamed, muffled by the Doctor's hand. She clutched the groggy Donny close, feeling Jack nearby.

'You said you were tired of people dying,' she said frantically. 'What did you mean by that? Is Rory going to die?'

_Rule one: the Doctor lies._

'No,' Jack said. He glanced at Owen and the doctor nodded before moving to Danny. 'He's not going to die. The Doctor has a better chance of dying than him.'

_'What_?" She exclaimed.

He grimaced. 'He's sending every single memory, dream, nightmare, fear, hope, thought, that he's ever had into Rory's mind. But he's directing it to the parasite. So that's the kellion screaming, not Rory.'

Amy let Owen take Danny and stood up, shuffling closer. 'How does that kill the Doctor?'

Jack sighed. 'Everything that makes a person who they are, are their dreams and nightmare and everything beyond and between. Without them, they're just a husk of nothing.'

'So, he's not _dying _dying. He's going to not…_be _there anymore,' she said, horrified. 'There has to be another way.'

'There's not.'

The Doctor started screaming too, the sound mixing with Rory's so tightly that is was nearly impossible to tell whose was whose. He pressed harder into his hand, pushing It against the ground until Rory couldn't move whether he was in control or not.

Rory started to glow silver, getting brighter and brighter until it was blinding.

'Is that it?' Amy shouted, shading her eyes. 'Is that the kellion?'

'No!' Jack shouted back. 'That's…That's the wrong colour!'

'No! No! Nononononono!' The Doctor yelled. 'Don't! Don't even think about it!'

Rory started laughing hysterically, fading round the edges. 'Knew it!' He crowed, not sounding like her husband. 'Tootles, Doctor!'

The Doctor released Rory and lunged for the light that was disappearing through the ceiling. He only got so far before his eyes rolled and he fell, crumpling limply like a puppet with its string cut.

Amy blinked rapidly to rid her eyes of sun-spots and rushed to Rory's side, Owen right behind her and Jack going to the Doctor's.

She pushed Owen away and brushed her husband's forehead, bringing her hand to cup his face. 'Rory? You with us?'

Rory twitched and blinked up her dazedly. He looked confused for a split second then a smile appeared. 'Hello.'

Tears slipped down her cheeks. 'Hello,' she said back shakily with a quivering smile. Then she yanked him up and kissed him soundly on the lips, hugging him tightly. 'Don't ever do that again,' she murmured sternly.

'I'll try my best.' He pulled away. 'What about Doctor?'

The alien was curled in a ball on the ground, one hand loose against his chest and the other through his hair. He groaned. 'I'm alive,' he hissed, uncurling and stretching, joints popping and cracking. 'Ow. I'm getting too old for this. How ya feeling?' He sat up to peer into Rory's eyes carefully. 'You _look _fine. No lasting damage from the kellion getting forcibly yanked out of you.'

Jack let his shaking friend lean against him. 'What took it?'

The Doctor smiled darkly. '_That _is an excellent question, Captain. I don't know, I was a bit distracted and all.' He closed his eyes and shook his head. 'Well.' He stood up with a groan and brushed off his trousers. 'That was an adventure I'm not too keen on repeating.'

Rory sighed in sarcastic relief, also shaking a little as he stood up with Amy and Owen's help. 'Oh good. Here I was worried you would think that was _fun_.'

He flashed the human a bright smile, a little darkness fading away. 'I suppose that's the right way to think,' he muttered good naturally. 'Where's Danny?'

'In his room,' Owen answered. 'Where he was suppose to be before we even got here, but his brother thought otherwise.'

'Of course he did,' the Doctor said brightly. 'He thought everything was okay. Obviously he was _wrong_, but you can't blame him. His brother was terribly sick then got better, like magic. He probably wanted to spend time with him just in case, a little paranoia goes a long way. Humans,' he said fondly, absently.

* * *

**Scene XIV**

'Amy, you can't possibly need more clothes,' Rory attempted to say over the flurry of giggles that his wife, Tosh, and Gwen were busying themselves with as they shuffled through racks of clothing.  
Attempted being the keyword there.

'Don't bother, mate,' Owen said from beside him, sighing. 'Once ya get Gwen and Tosh in this mood there's no turnin' back. Considering how Amy's acting, she's the same. That's three against two, we don't stand a bloody chance.'

Rory sighed as well and leaned against the all, feeling a twinge in his shoulders. He was still sore from being possessed by the kellion and still trying to wrap his head around everything he missed out on. Speaking of... 'Where are Jack and the Doctor?'

'At the Hub. Jack asked the Doctor what the kellion meant when It said that you've died so often.'

He winced. 'Oh.'

'"Oh" is a nice way of putting it,' Jack said, appearing out of nowhere with a giant smile on his face.

The Doctor bounded up next to Rory, hesitating only a second before he clapped a hand on his shoulder. 'You ready to go?'

'_I _am,' Rory told him. 'I dunno about Amy.'

'Don't be silly!' The Doctor said. 'If I just happen to tell her that there's an entire planet full of clothes then I'm sure she'll come with us.'

Amy materialized out of air, arms full of clothes. 'I'm ready,' she announced. 'What planet are we going to next? Does it have clothes? You know, I heard something about clothes.'

The Doctor grinned. 'Right on cue, Pond.' He turned to where Torchwood gathered, Gwen and Tosh abandoning their shopping trip. 'We best be off now.'

Jack smiled and took the alien in a hug before he could stop the larger man. '_I'll _see _you_ later,' he said, his smile turning sad. 'Come see me later, in this face. I barely know it.'

'There's nothing wrong with that,' the Doctor said. He waited until Amy and Rory were done saying goodbye to the rest of the Cardiff gang before pointing to the alley where the TARDIS sat ready with her door open.

Rory nodded and dragged his wife away despite her protests.

The Doctor shuffled back, debate visible on his face. 'Jack…I want you to know that I don't—_won't—_blame you. And you should forgive yourself, in the end,' he finally said. He grimaced. 'You'll know what I mean, sooner or later.'

Jack frowned. 'Doctor, wh—.' But the TARDIS already slammed shut, a second later it started fading from view with that achingly familiar _vworp vworp vworp_.

'What did he mean, Jack?' Gwen asked.

'I don't know,' he said slowly. _And I don't really want to find out._

* * *

'Alrighty! Where are we off to?'

Amy pouted. 'You said we were going to a planet full of clothes.'

'That's right! I did.' He exchanged grinned with Rory. 'Hold on, Ponds, it going to be a bumpy ride…well, bumpier than usual. The Fire Falls is the quickest shortcut and the TARDIS doesn't like being nice whenever we go—Oh! That reminds me of the time when I needed—.'

'—Doctor!'

'Alright! Alright. I'm going.' He pulled a lever and clicked something into the typewriter. 'Don't get ginger-y on me!'

'Oi!'

* * *

_'This wasn't the plan! You said I could feast on all I wanted only if I got to the Doctor as well. You never said you were going to do _this. _No. Stop it. Stop it! NO!'_

* * *

_**Next Up:**_

_Episode 3: The Hunting of Cindy Mills_

'Of course she's sick! She's been hopping around with a fried vortex manipulator! It's amazing it still works!'

'She can control emotions. She's only been here for a few years, but she's manipulated this town into believing they love her unconditionally.'

'I doubt she did it on purpose, Doctor.'


	3. Episode 3: The Hunting of Cindy Mills

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Doctor Who.

Series Notes: Takes place after the Christmas special. In my head, the Doctor picks up the Ponds at that time (after dinner of course)

And I'm not sure if River's going to show up.

Warnings: A lot of overlap, I'm sorry. And probably plot holes. Also, a lot of continuity of classic and nu!who.

This whole thing is un-beta. Anyone who sees anything out of the ordinary, let me know and I'll fix it.

And one last word (For those who haven't seen Torchwood or some of any Doctor Who)...Spoilers!

And this might suck. I'm sorry.

* * *

Note: Thank you for the alerts and favorites, but I would also really like your input. So don't forget to review. Point out mistakes, parts you like, parts you don't. I just would like the criticism!

* * *

I Can Run Forever

Mikkal

Episode 3: The Hunting of Cindy Mills

* * *

Episode Notes: This was originally based off the very first series trailer and the Old West scenes from that. With the release of 'A Town Called Mercy' I borrowed the name, and that's it. Joshua/Susan would've made an appearance, if I had remembered that. Anyway, there is nothing really connecting this to the actual series so it's AU, of course.

* * *

'Pond, go change your shirt.'

She froze at the harsh tone and barely contained sadness in his voice, halfway down the steps. 'What? Why?' Amy glanced down at her shirt and it dawned on her. 'Oh, right. I'll go do that.'

He smiled gratefully and went back to what he was doing previously: talking Rory's ear off, just like nothing happened. The Scottish woman turned and headed back to her room, exchanging knowing glances with her husband that the Doctor didn't catch. What was she thinking, putting on this shirt?

Why did she still even have this? Actually, she was pretty sure she threw it away shortly after she got back from Demon's Run…and she threw it away back in England.

'So, where are we going?' She asked when she came back. That shirt stuffed under a whole bunch of other clothes in an attempt to never find it again.

'Not _where_,' the Doctor corrected, flipping a switch enthusiastically. He whirled around and turned a knob on his screen. '_When._' He grinned and turned the screen towards them. 'The Old West, United States of America.'

Amy leaned over to read the translated text, tilting it and holding it there as Rory asked, 'Why there?'

'Good question!' The Doctor ducked under her arms to crank a lever. 'I've been tracking a case of a missing royal from the Sherlonia Royal Family.'

'Is there a reward?'

'I believe so,' he replied absently. 'But _that's _not what matters. What matters is she's the crown princess and only heir to the throne. Without her there's an outbreak of a civil war then _ku-put_." He made a noise like an explosion and moved his hands to match it. 'That's the world in the end.'

'Wow, important girl,' Amy remarked.

'Right you are!' The Doctor rushed to the wardrobe. 'And it's her that matters, remember that. A reward does nothing, nothing at all.' He jumped out, a Stetson in place on his head. There was even the bullet hole River put in it so many adventures ago.

Amy laughed. 'I can't believe you still have that!'

'Stetsons are still cool!'

Rory's eyebrows furrowed. 'Wait, how does that have hole if the Tesalecta was the one whose hat was shot and the one you were wearing _inside_ was fine?'

The Doctor gaped at him then jabbed a finger in the human's chest. 'How dare you deny my nonsense with your logic!' He whirled around and skipped out the open door, whistling a merry tune.

'Seriously? _That's _your answer?'

Amy patted his shoulder. 'Were you really expecting something else?'

Rory sighed, shaking his head ruefully. 'In hindsight, no I was not.'

They were just a foot from the doors when the Doctor came rushing back in, making them leap back or else there would be a collision in their near future.

'Almost forgot!' The Doctor cried. He kicked open something under the console and pulled out a small jewelry box. 'We'll be needing these.' With gusto, he flipped the box open to revel several gold and silver necklace chains, the links alternating the coloured metal.

'…Necklaces?' Rory said hesitatingly.

The Doctor grinned brightly at their flummoxed faces. 'Not just any type of necklaces. They are external psychic dampeners. All Sherlonians are telepaths, but the Royal Family is very powerful.' He pulled on one and tossed two at his companions. 'Suit up, Ponds. This is going to get bumpy.'

'Bumpier than the Fire Falls?' Amy asked. 'Bumpier than Angels in a forest? Daleks in World War II? Or a Silurian spaceship full of dinosaurs?'

'Dinosaurs?' The Doctor questioned, corner of his lips twitching in an attempt not to laugh. 'Where in the universe did would you find dinosaurs on a spaceship?'

'Oh, around.'

'Who are you?' Someone suddenly shouted. A rugged man charged at them, a gun in his hand. 'How did you get here?' His nose crinkled. '_What _are you _wearing_?'

The Doctor smiled and clapped his hands, laughing. 'I'm the Doctor,' he said brightly. 'This is Amelia and Rory.' He put his hands up, fingers spread out and waggling. 'We're from far far away,' he all but sang.

Amy elbowed him in the ribs. 'I'm Amy actually.' She eyed the gun in the man's hand. 'And why are you pointing a gun in our faces?'

His eyebrows furrowed. 'Your accents…What do you want?' He cocked the gun and shoved it in Amy's face.

Amy jerked back. 'Whoa, crazy man. Watch it.'

'Get that away from her.' Rory swiped at the gun, knocking it away.

It shot off, causing the trio to duck.

'Are you crazy?' The man shouted, eyes wide.

The Doctor huffed. 'Of all the people here, you're the crazy one…maybe…only you.' The Doctor scratched his head. 'You're the one pointing a gun at us. Us who haven't done a thing…' He looked like he wanted to add something at the end, but managed to contain himself with a slight struggle.

The man looked contrite, amazingly enough. 'Fair enough,' he muttered. 'Andrews,' he said, putting his gun in his hip holster. 'John Andrews. Welcome to Mercy.'

The Doctor blinked and titled his head. 'I'm sorry…Welcome to …_where_?'

Andrews pointed behind them. They turned around and stared at the rickety sign proclaiming the town to be called 'Mercy.' A tumbleweed blew in the dusty street.

'Well,' Rory said finally. 'That's a cheery name.'

* * *

'Miss, what's on your dress?'

Amy glanced down with a soft smile at the young girl looking up at her with wide, curious eyes. She looked around to see no one scowling at her for talking to a child of the town.

'They're pineapples.' Amy answered. 'They're a fruit, like an apple or a pear.'

'Do they taste good?' Another child asked, a boy, as he tugged on his older brother hand.

She chuckled. 'Sweet and juicy, a bit tangy.' She grinned. 'They're delicious.'

The three of them cheered at the thought of unknown wonders. They started clamoring for more information about the far far land away they were from. Rory came up behind her and kissed her cheek before squeezing her shoulders.

'Having fun?' He asked quietly, smiling.

Amy laughed and nodded, leaning back against him. 'They're amazing kids…Where's the Doctor?'

Rory jerked his head to where the Doctor was entertaining some other kids. 'He was talking to the sheriff earlier, who turns out that Andrews is the sheriff.' He chuckled. 'According to himself he a bit of a bumbler, he lost his badge this morning.' He kissed her shoulder. 'Andrews assured the town we were okay so he's letting the Doctor play with the orphans and his adopted daughter.'

The Doctor shouted out in panic, arms waving wildly as he fell back. He landed with an _oomph,_ a bundle of kids using him as their own soft landing. He laughed loudly, squirming as tiny hands found his ticklish spots.

Amy giggled. 'Which one's his daughter?'

'Um.' Rory hummed a little bit, trying to track down the sheriff's daughter through the chaos. 'That one. The one with the messy dark hair and pale skin. Apparently she's the town's little mascot. Loved by all, hated by none.'

She could see her. Paler than what would be normal for someone living in this part of America, same colour as a little boy younger than her standing off to the side in the shadows.

Someone squealed as the Doctor swung him around, dancing in circles.

'He's very good with children,' a woman said, smiling. She stuck out a hand. 'My name is Veronica. The one who asked you about the fruit on your dress is my daughter.' She smiled fondly. 'Never stops asking questions, that one.'

'I know the feeling,' Amy answered, glancing discreetly at the Doctor. 'And yes, yes he is,' she added, surprised. She hadn't known that. Not really. There were a few kids here and there, but none that he actually played with like this before.

…Did she count? When she was seven? He was only at her house for a few hours and it was all frantic, then a lull, then frantic and he was gone. Nothing like this.

'Can I ask what you folk are doing around these parts?' Veronica asked.

Rory shrugged and let go of Amy to stand at her side. 'Just travelling. We've been cooped up in our house for too long and our old friend, the Doctor,' he supplied, 'offered us the chance to look about.'

She smiled wistfully. 'That sounds lovely. My daughters been non stop asking questions about places she reads in books. Always wanted to hear those accents in real life.' She giggled. 'I guess today's that day. Thank you for than.'

'Glad we could help,' Amy said. 'Even if we didn't mean to. That just makes it better.'

Veronica rocked back on her heels, reminding Amy strongly of the woman's daughter. 'How long y'all staying for? If you don't mind me askin'.'

'Depends,' Rory answered. 'The Doctor's the tour guide. But Amy gets bored easily. _Ow!'_

Amy smiled sweetly, removing her elbow from her husband's side. 'Don't mind him. He gets cranky when there's nothing going on. He's the one who gets bored.'

'I am not.'

'Are too.'

'Am not.'

'Ponds!' The Doctor exclaimed, popping up between them with a manic grin on his face and a child sitting on his shoulders. The sheriff's daughter actually, with her own manic smile on her face. Quite a pair, those two. 'You'll never believe was Andrews has done!'

'Nothin' freaky, I hope,' Amy said apprehensively.

That just made the alien laugh. 'Nope! We're invited for their little festival tomorrow night! There's three other towns nearby and they all meet here for the festival.'

Veronica clapped her hand together excitedly. 'Oh that's wonderful! I could make you outfits? I'm the seamstress. I'm quite good, if I do say so myself.'

'That would be lovely,' the Doctor gushed.

'Hold up.' Rory stopped the proceedings with practiced sanity. 'What's this festival about? We're not going to be sacrificed to the gods in order to ensure a bountiful harvest are we?'

The seamstress laughed loudly, unable to stop it seemed so the Doctor answered for her.

'No, no, Rory,' he said. 'Just a festival that happens twice a year whenever the town heads feel like there should be a morality boast. It's all good fun for no real reason. No gods, no plagues, no ghosts, or secret mirrors. Just the towns and food and dancing and laughing. And I'm not going to say "what could possible go wrong," because that would jinx it….I didn't just jinx it anyway, did I?' He asked worriedly.

Amy sighed. 'We'll see. You have the sonic with you, right?'

'Of course!...Now, Seamstress Veronica was it?' He turned to the woman and began walking away with her, bouncing his step so the child on his shoulders bounced with him. She giggled and buried her hands in his hair. 'Are you sure you want to make us outfits?'

'It's no trouble at all. I always enjoy making outfits for new people. It gives me a sense of who that person is.'

He grinned. 'Well, I'm sure little Cindy here wants to help. Right?'

'Yeah!' She chirped, tugging on his hair more but he didn't wince. 'I wanna help!'

'Still no trouble?' He asked.

Veronica smiled warmly. 'Still no trouble at all, Doctor. Right this way now, Mister, Miss.'

* * *

There were quite a lot of people at the festival. Which made totally sense considering it was a combination of three different towns. Amy got pulled into a silly dance by people their age, leaving Rory to hand out pieces of pineapple that the Doctor managed to procure from the TARDIS not too long ago.

Why he had a bulk supply of pineapples (sitting right next to another, equally large bulk, of bananas) just randomly sitting in the TARDIS was a mystery he was perfectly fine not solving.

'Rory,' the Doctor said quietly in his ear, materializing out of no where. 'I want you to keep an eye out. Something doesn't seem…._right_.'

That was not a good thing.

'What makes you say that?' He asked, worry growing.

The Doctor shrugged a little. 'I know the princess is here. I have a feeling I know which one she is. But something else is here. Something extremely very not good.' He shuddered. 'Whatever it is, is giving me the heebee jeebees.'

Rory rolled his eyes at his word choice and handed Cindy a piece of pineapple when she asked nicely. She seemed to have picked up the habit of following the Doctor wherever he went, alternating between stumbling after him like a puppy or clutching the back of his (newly) tailored long coat.

The Doctor smiled down at her and patted her head. 'Keep an eye out,' he said again, eyes darting left and right. 'I'm getting seriously worried. And you know, me being seriously worried is a seriously worrying thing.'

That was true.

Rory nodded. 'Okay. Gotcha.' He nodded to where Amy was twirling in a circle, stumbling a little as she got dizzier. 'You should probably—.'

'Ah!' The Doctor crowed. 'I should. Cindy, would you care to join me?' He extended his hand, palm up like a gentleman and she took it with no hesitation.

He shook his head as the two went tottering off. Not exactly what he meant, but what can you do?

Amy bounced up to him, smile wide and eyes bright. 'Come on, Rory!' She all but whined. 'Dance with me. Let the pineapples be free!'

'Are the both of you on something…or something?' He asked in disbelief. He yelped when Amy yanked him into the dancing circle with the Doctor right across from them, not even paying them a lick of attention.

'I'm not!' Amy shouted over the music and laughter. 'But I can't be too sure about the Doctor.' She grinned and spun him around.

He smiled back and grabbed her waist, pressing their fronts together, and waltzed her dramatically around the fire. The few people not dancing cheered and clapped them on as the music got a bit louder. Some dancing couples and groups stopped to catch their breath and watched the time-travelling couple reenact one of the dances they learned for their wedding breakfast.

'_Hey!_ What do you think you're doin'?' Andrews shouted almost frantically, disturbing everyone's happy evening. Dull panic washed over the combined towns like a tsunami.

Amy and Rory yanked away from each other, eyes meeting or a brief moment before looking for Andrews. Amy found him first and elbowed Rory gently. He looked to see Andrews staring into the dark, half in the light of the fire and half out.

'What's he staring at?' Someone whispered.

The Doctor walked out just behind Andrews—Cindy stopping a little ways away, no one had the courage to move and stop her—sonic out and pointing in the dark. The green light illuminated a young, pale boy that stared at them with blank, black eyes. It was the same boy Amy mentioned to him earlier.

'Who are you,' the Doctor asked, only a little demanding in his voice. Like he knew this kid could be anyone—friend or foe. 'What do you want?'

The boy said nothing.

No one made a sound now, not even the fire. It was like nature itself was holding its breath for whatever was coming. Children hid behind their mothers and men stood in front of the women, shielding them with their bodies from this strange boy—human—creature—standing there in the dark like their was nothing to fear.

The Doctor shuffled closer, his shoulders tight. 'I asked, 'Who are you? What do you want?'' He jabbed his sonic a little farther.

A small smile appeared on the boy's face, his eyes flashing like a cat's in the light. 'I have no name,' he answered, chilly and dead. 'I want the princess.'

Rory gripped his wife's arm as she tensed.

'Can I call you 'the Boy?' You look like and boy and you have no name so I'll just call you 'the Boy' out loud since that's what I'm call you in my head now.' His grip on the sonic tightened and his voice lowered in all seriousness. 'You can't have her.'

The Boy laughed and it made Rory's stomach turn. Milk could curdle from that laugh. And that wasn't an exaggeration. 'Do you even know who she is?'

Andrews pushed the Doctor aside slightly. 'I don't care who you are or who this 'princess', you ain't getting her. Ain't no one going with you, you creepy ass sonovabitch.'

'John!' Veronica chastised quietly. 'It's a child.'

The Boy smirked. 'I am not a child. Though many have wished that I was just that.' He turned to the Doctor. 'Give me the princess, Doctor. Or else you are going to be surrounded by the very thing you fear.'

Rory saw the Doctor freeze then his body just loosened like he had been filled with water. Amy tugged him so they could get a side view of the Doctor's face (and so they could jump in incase something happened) and he was alarmed to see an eerily clam façade in place.

'You know,' the alien man murmured. 'I've heard that a lot of times.' He smiled darkly. 'I hear a lot of things a lot of times. You don't want to mess with me. You never know what kind of Storm you'll get in response.'

'Give. Me. The. Princess.' The air around the Boy crackled like lightening. 'Or you _will _be sorry.'

'_No_.'

The Boy's face contorted into such a mask of anger that he looked so _wrong_. 'Give her to me or I will be forced to shoot her. I have no orders to bring her in alive.'

Andrews cocked his gun. 'Don't even think about it.'

It was at that moment he Boy raised a hand, light dancing around his fingers, and pointed it directly at Cindy. The Doctor shoved the girl away from him and into the crowd (almost knocking over Veronica).

There was a flash of light and scream of pain. Rory blinked rapidly, only to see the Boy gone and the Doctor crouching over the smoking remains of Andrews. Veronica was close by, holding Cindy back and hiding Andrew's corpse from her view.

The Doctor covered his eyes and sighed heavily. 'Does anyone have a—Thank you.' He took the coat an older fellow brought over Andrews' unrecognizable face. 'Keep her away,' he warned Veronica. 'Go back into town, _now_.'

Everyone fled except Amy and Rory. The Doctor tucked the edges of the blanket underneath John Andrews. There would be no time for a proper burial.

'Doctor, who was that?' She approached him cautiously. '_What _was that?'

'A reward,' he replied absently, standing and brushing dirt off his hands a trousers. 'There's a reward for the Sherlonian princess.' He smacked his head. '_Of course._ I'm such an _idiot_. If I'm looking for her, who says no one else with much more sinister purposes is looking for her as well.' He rubbed his temple. 'This is getting complicated.'

Rory frowned. 'What do we do now?'

'Doctor!' Veronica shouted, running up to them with her skirts clenched in her hands. 'You _have _to protect Cindy. Please, she's too important to lose.'

The Doctor grabbed her by the arms in hopes of calming her down. 'What do you mean, Veronica?' He frowned thoughtfully. 'Cindy's just an ordinary little girl. That Boy isn't going to come after her. Whatever, or whomever, he's looking for isn't here.'

She shook her head frantically. 'No, no. I know she's ordinary, but you have to protect her anyway. She's….She's…' Veronica clutched her head, fingers tangling in her hair. 'I don't know what she is. But she's important. Save her. Please!'

'I will, I will,' the Doctor assured soothingly. 'I promise. Where is she now?'

Veronica blinked away tears and nodded. 'She's with George back at John's house. It's the tiny one at the the edge of town.'

'Okay…' The Doctor nodded. 'Okay. Veronica, I want you to do something for me.' When she hesitated he said, 'This is very important for the safety of Cindy. Can you do that?' Oh how he loathed to say this. 'Veronica, can you help me protect Cindy?'

Veronica nodded. 'Yes. _Yes_, I can. What do you want me to do.'

The Doctor just frowned. 'I want you to make sure everyone stays in their houses and off the streets. When you check on everyone I want you to go home to your daughter and stay there, okay?'

She stepped back a little, thought about it for a second, and then nodded. 'Anything for Cindy.' The woman ran to the nearest house and begun her duty.

* * *

They made it to the tiny house with no trouble and sent George back to his own family, assuring the man that they would protect Cindy with their lives just how he would and there was nothing for him to worry about.

Their assuring took five minutes to settle in and another two minutes for him to actually leave. He told them a list of her likes and dislikes, dreams and nightmares, and that she liked to sleep a full eight hours so she should be asleep for a while now. She conked out within minutes of arriving at Andrews' house.

'What was that all about?' Amy asked. 'Even Veronica did it. And the description Rory got yesterday about her made her seem like their was their goddess or something.'

The Doctor rubbed his eyes. 'She can control emotions, I told you that. She's only been here for a few weeks, but she's manipulated this town into believing they love her unconditionally and that she's the most important thing on this planet_. _Making them willing to_ die _to protect her.'

'I doubt she did it on purpose, Doctor,' Rory said. 'She's just a child no matter how you look at it.'

The Doctor stared at him then blinked. 'Right. You're right. I know. Sorry.' He pinched the bridge of his nose. 'We need to get her out of here. We need to get her back home. Before the Boy gets to her and does who-knows-what.'

'How'd she get here?' Amy asked, almost rhetorically.

'Vortex manipulator,' the Doctor said. 'Nasty things. I think I've told you that before… Anyway. She picked it up only recently. Before she had a ship. I think she's using both.'

'So there should be a ship nearby, right?'

The Doctor rubbed his chin hand ran a hand through his hair. 'Yes, yes. There should be. I just. I don't know where it is.' He smacked himself in the forehead, obviously trying to think of something. 'I know there's a way. I just…can't…_think of it!'_

'Doctor?' A tiny voice said.

He whirled around to see Cindy at the door, eyes wide and face impossibly paler than before. 'Cindy, what are you doing up?'

"I want my papa,' she said quietly, lip trembling.

Amy's heart stuttered and she swept the alien child into her arms. 'I know, darlin', but he's off fighting the bad guys now.' How do you tell an alien child who didn't know she was royal that he adopted human father was dead? She frowned and felt the girl's forehead. 'Doctor, Rory, she has a fever.'

Rory touched her forehead and peered into her eyes. 'How are you feeling, Cindy?'

She blinked at him. 'Not so good,' she admitted in a tiny voice. 'My tummy and my head hurts…a lot.' Her lower lip trembled. 'Make it _stop_.' There was a certain force behind her last word, but she didn't seem to notice it.

'Sorry, little princess. That's going to work on us.'

Cindy blinked again, in what could be called shock, before her eyes rolled up and she passed out. Amy faltered in her grip but kept her from hitting the ground in the end.

The Doctor swore and scanned her with his sonic, scowling the whole time.

_'Doctor_,' Amy reprimanded and questioned at the same time.

'She's sick…Well, _of course_ she's sick, you bloody idiot.' The Doctor snapped at himself, running a hand through his hair. He paced around the little room as Rory laid Cindy down and Amy ran to get a bowl of water. 'She's a child using her powers to her fullest extend without realizing it and she's been hopping around with a fried vortex manipulator! It's amazing it still works! It's amazing she's not dead! Or get sick earlier'

Cindy began to mumble and toss a little, caught up in feverish nightmares. Rory soaked a cloth Amy got him along with the bowl and placed it on her forehead.

'Won't her nightmares affect the whole town? Especially now?' Amy asked. 'She's already affected their love for her.'

The Doctor shook his head, staring intently at the readings his sonic was putting out. 'No, no. The TARDIS is emitting a pulse that's dampening her powers.'

Rory quirked an eyebrow. 'Then why are we still wearing these?' He tugged on his necklace.

'Constant exposure,' he replied, not even looking at them. 'Two humans who travel through time and space and a psychic Time Lord whose shields are a little shot right now... have been for a while,' he muttered, 'It's exposure and how…whatever that word is…' He blinked. 'Is there a word for that? There is, it stars with a 's'…Anyway. Depends on how susceptible…the word! Ha!...susceptible we are in the first place.'

Amy frowned. 'Doctor, are you okay?' She stood up and went to him. 'What's wrong? You're making your grumpy face again.'

The Doctor waved away her concerns. 'Nothing. Nothing's wrong.' He squinted at his sonic again. 'Just thinking.' His eyes snapped to Rory when the other man yawned. 'You two should rest. I can look after the troublesome princess.'

'Are you sure?'

The alien rolled his eyes. 'I maybe lacking in an actual medical doctorate, but I did study it. Granted, I got distracted by the cheese-making and Koschei…' He faltered before continuing. 'Koschei kept challenging me to pranks. I—.'

'Doctor,' Amy cut in gently. 'Are you sure you can handle it?'

'_Yes_, Pond,' the Doctor said tersely. 'I'll be fine. Now, shoo.'

Rory took one last look at the Doctor before Amy pulled him into the next room. They had no energy to do anything but collapse onto the bed, their minds shutting down immediately. The sounds of crickets, wind, and creaking floorboards lulling them to sleep.

_Drowning. Pleading. Screaming. Pleading. Pleading. Help. Rory. Help!_

He woke with a gasp. Amy groaned and shifted next to him, throwing her arm so it dangled off the edge of the bed. Rory smiled fondly when she snorted and grumbled out something unpleasant.

Rory tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and laid back down, burrowing into the scratchy pillow. As much as he wanted to go back to sleep, though, Mister Sandman just wasn't coming back.

He shoved himself up and headed out of the room, frowning when he noticed the door to Cindy and the Doctor's room was opened only a slight crack. Rory pushed it open a little only to pause at the door way, his heart stuttering and eyes widening.

The Time Lord gently cradled Cindy's head in his lap, his long fingers brushing her dark hair as he whispered a little lullaby in a beautiful, singing language that should be translated by the TARDIS, but wasn't. That made it only one language: Gallifrayen.

The Doctor pressed a kiss to her forehead, the lullaby faltering for a moment before picking it back up.

'You look so much like my granddaughter,' he said quietly after a few more stanzas. 'When she was younger. Before our adventures.' He sighed. 'Her name was Susan, but not really. She had the most beautiful name before that one. Still I have no idea why she changed it. She wouldn't let me call her it even in the TARDIS away from companions. Guess she wanted to be more like me.'

Rory froze. A granddaughter? The Doctor…had a _granddaughter_? The words caught up to him, especially the tenses. They were all past tense. Did Susan…Was Susan on Gallifrey?

'I had a daughter, recently,' the Doctor said out of the blue. "She reminded me of Susan." He smiled sadly. "Everyone reminds me of someone lately. That's probably a bad thing.' He sighed again, weary and oh-so-old. 'I'm getting on in years. I don't know how much longer I will last. And when I'm gone…no one will be left.' The Doctor leaned back against the wall, staring at the ceiling. 'For the best, probably. Perhaps the fact that my undeniable urge to be surrounded by humans will be gone lives will stopped being ruined and enemies will stop growing strong in their hatred.'

Rory shuffled back a little and purposely stepped on a creaky floorboard as he entered the room. 'How's she doing, Doctor?'

He had moved away from the princess in the time it took Rory to pretend he hadn't been listening in on a conversations he shouldn't have been listening to. 'Better,' he said. 'She's stopped having nightmares.'

The companion peered at the Doctor closely, frowning. 'You didn't take any of that away from her onto yourself, did you?'

He shook his head, hands up in the air in childish, preemptive defense. 'Nope, absolutely not. I doubt she would've let me anyway. Sherlonians are very protect of their minds, as any sane species should be.' The Doctor sighed. 'I've been trying to think of a plan, but the only one I've got involves me going out and getting the TARDIS. If Cindy's gone then the Boy will leave…_should _leave.'

'He could kill you,' Rory protested.

The Doctor hummed. 'That is a possibility. But we really need to get the princess back as soon as possible.'

His eyes narrowed. 'Why? What happens?'

The alien smiled sheepishly. 'You remember how I mentioned their world ending if she's not returned? Well…there's a reason for that besides her being the crown princess and all. There's already a civil war going on and the Royal Family said that if she's not returned by their Winter Wa'cion, basically an equinox, then they will destroy the other side immediately, damn the consequences.'

'So…they think they other side kidnapped the princess?' Rory summarized.

'Basically.'

He sighed. 'Oh lovely. When are were going to just have a nice, peaceful time with you, Doctor?' The Raggedy Man looked a little hurt by that remark, but he was a little distracted by Amy waking up and coming into the room with them. 'Sleep well?'

'Yeah, but not nearly enough.' She glanced down at the sitting Time Lord. 'You got a plan yet, Doctor?'

'No,' the Doctor said. 'I've got a thing. Not a plan, a thing…Just stay here. I'm going to go try something. Holler really, really, really loudly if the Boy comes knocking.' And, with that, he spun on his heel and left, slipping his sonic out as he went.

Amy linked her arm with his. 'What was that about?'

He debated on telling her. Rory glanced back to see Cindy curled up under the blanket and decided to move towards the window where he could see the Doctor standing in the middle of the dark street, pointing the sonic at the night sky.

The area was washed with the bright green, casting everything an odd, sort of sickening, colour.

'What's wrong, Rory?' Amy asked. 'Did the Doctor do something?'

And he told her.

'A granddaughter? And a daughter…recently? You sure?' Amy leaned against a post between the window and Cindy's bed. 'I feel like he would've told us about that.'

'Would he?' Rory asked. 'It took him ages to tell us about the War and what he did, to tell us about the Master.' He sighed and rubbed his head. 'I doubt he would be willing to tell us about whether or not he had family on Gallifrey. He had friends, of course, but family's a whole other story.' He glanced at her and brushed a piece of hair from her eyes. 'Maybe it's okay for him to keep this one story to himself, don't you think?'

She huffed, but nodded in agreement.

The Doctor burst in the door, a wide smile on his face. 'I've got it!'

* * *

'Are you sure about this, Doctor?' Amy asked carefully. She helped Cindy over the fence and made sure the blanket was wrapped tightly around her.

'Yes!...Well, no, but I'm sure about Rory,' the Doctor said, scanning the area. 'I'm kinda, sorta, making this up as I go along.'

'_Doctor!_' She scolded, feeling like the babysitter for _two _alien eight year olds.

'Kidding!' He said quickly.

She glared at the back of his head. 'You didn't sound like you were kidding.'

He smiled. 'We've only seen the Boy one and a half times. I'm sure we can get little Cindy through without him noticing and I'm sure Rory will be fine. He's only setting off fireworks. Not like he can die doing that.'

Amy smacked his shoulder. 'Don't jinx it,' she hissed.

'Oi, sorry!' He scanned the area. His voice softened with a dangerous ring to it when he said, 'Hate to break it to ya, Pond, but it was jinxed long before I said anything.'

'What do you mea—oh.'

The Boy stood in front of them. His skin no longer pale, just pure white, and his teeth sharpened to a point. At that moment a firework went off behind them, lighting the night sky red and green.

'Nice distraction,' the Boy said, voice ice. 'Did you really think that was going to work?'

The Doctor shrugged. 'I was hoping. Lay Luck doesn't exactly like me that much, especially after that fiasco with her cat. I _told _her that it wouldn't like the jajina fruit. But did she listen? No. And did she blame me for a rampaging big cat on fire that destroyed half a city? _Yes!_' The Doctor looked scandalized.

The Boy just stared at him. Amy was getting really nervous as Cindy trembled and clung to the back of her dress tightly.

'You speak a lot.'

The Doctor smiled. 'You can't have her. I don't care how much of a reward the other side is giving you, nothing is worth more than a little girl's life.'

Amy felt a tugging sensation and glanced down. 'What's wrong, Cindy?' She asked quietly, hoping not to attract the attention of the two aliens conversing.

Her eyes were wide and fearful. '_He's going to drown_,' she hissed, voice eerie. '_He's going to choke and die screaming for help even though he asked for it.'_

The Boy laughed loudly, mixing with a gold firework 'Finally! I was wondering when she would finally get the message.' He frowned, almost looking confused. 'Not exactly how I imagined it sounding. Her mother was suppose to send her a message about giving up.'

The Doctor growled. 'Don't tell lies,' he warned. He pointed the sonic at the Boy. 'I know how to get rid of you without anymore deaths. I don't think you want that. Just give up and go away and you'll be safe.'

'I highly doubt you have figured it out, _Doctor_,' the Boy spat, eyes widened a fraction of an inch in fear. 'That would be too simple, and nothing is ever simple with you, Time Lord.'

'No, it never is,' he agreed with a strange smile. Another firework went off, showering the night with blue. 'But here's hoping.'

He pressed a button on the sonic and the Boy screamed, his hands clamped over his ears and he fell to his knees. Cindy screamed as well, tears running down her face, arms wrapped around Amy's waist.

'You're going to kill her!' Amy shouted, curling herself around the poor princess. 'Doctor, stop!'

'I'm not going to kill her, Pond,' the Doctor shouted back, teeth clenched. 'It's only going to hurt.'

She lunged for him and knocked the screwdriver out of his hand.

He glared at her. 'What the hell do you think you're doing?'

Amy grabbed his wrist as he reached for his little toy. 'What the hell do you think _you're _doing? We don't harm innocent people, Doctor. Or did you forget that, travelling two years alone by yourself?' Her eyes narrowed. 'I know it was two years for me, but I can never be too sure about for you.'

The Doctor ripped his wrist away easily, his Time Lord strength kicking in. 'I don't know what you're talking about, Amelia. I haven't hurt anyone.' He hesitated. 'Other than Cindy.'

'There was that tree person on that planet a few days ago that you claimed was an accident. What about that ecosystem full of the Kirluians? Or was that an accident too?' She glared at him, getting a little angrier when he looked away. 'You've been so sad and so nostalgic since you picked us up. We're worried, Rory and I. We want to help…how can we help when we don't know what's wrong?' she whispered. 'When you don't tell us.'

'Amy,' he said quietly. 'Stop. Now is not the time to psycho-analyse me. We need to deal with the Boy.'

'Deal as in kill? Or deal as in—?'

'Just trap him,' the Doctor assured, finally looking at her with wide, round eyes. Like a puppy who's done something bad and who's now trying to make it up to you. 'What Cindy said, whatever she said, gave me an idea.' He jerked his head towards the lake nearby. 'I recognize what he is now—which is too complicated for the TARDIS to even _begin _breaking down to speak-able syllables—but he crystalizes when he comes into contact with water. He's from the third moon away from Sherlonia, a place of ice and lightening. They've hated the Royal Family for years, no wonder he's all the way out here in a desert.'

'He doesn't die, though, right?' Amy asked, just to make sure. She gathered Cindy in her arms just as another gold firework burst. She checked her breathing and was relieved to see it normal. 'Just...hibernates?'

'Correct. Sort of.' He wandered to the Boy's body and nudged him. 'He's at least 300 years old. She's only 90. I hate bullies.'

She smiled slightly. 'I don't think he counts as a bully.'

The Doctor shook his head. 'I guess not. Come on. The sooner we get him to the lake the sooner we can call the Shadow Proclamation to deal with this whole mess. This is one for the intergalactic books.'

* * *

'He scared me,' Amy said bluntly, not quite sure of the TARDIS would keep this to herself. 'Rory, I'm really worried about him. He's so…distant and different from the Raggedy Man we knew.'

Rory sighed and tightened the arm he had around her, essentially making her snuggle closer. 'He'll be okay. It's only been—.'

'_Six months_,' she stressed. 'Since we've been travelling with him. Even future Doctor/Tesseract Doctor adapted quicker than this.' She placed her hand on his chest, just over his heart. 'I keep having these dreams,' she admitted.

He froze. 'What kind of dreams?'

'He's drowning,' she answered. 'At the bottom of a blank ocean. Screaming for us to help him, but that just makes it worse. And we're too bloody stuck to even _think _about putting out a hand.'

Rory tensed even more, his heart beating fast.

She frowned and pushed herself up. 'You've been having the same dreams too?' She said almost accusingly.

'Amy—.'

'Why didn't you tell me?'

He glared at her. 'You didn't tell me either!' He pointed out.

Amy collapse back down. 'Fair enough,' she mumbled. 'What if this is something really bad? I was blowing it off, thinking they were just normal nightmares. Lake Silenco and all that. But after what Cindy—I'm sorry—After what Princess Che'ee said and now you tell me that you're having them too? _Rory_.'

'I know. I'm worried too.' He kissed the top of her head. 'We'll keep a look out. Make sure the Doctor stays away from water. It's the least we can do.'

She hummed. 'Yeah…thank you.' She kissed him lightly. 'Love you.'

'Love you too.'

* * *

_**Next Up:**_

_****Episode 4: Morning Star_

'Um,' she said, staring at them. 'You know this is a "formal affair," right? How'd you get in wearing…_that_.' She pointed at them, specifically at the Doctor's neck.

He tweaked his bowtie with a smile. 'Bowties are cool!'

'Well, I guess that's better that what _those _two are wearing.'

'Thank you!'

'…And you're British! _How'd _you get in _here_?'

'Actually,' Rory said. 'We've lost a statue. Have you seen it?' Amy elbowed him in the side for that. '_Ow_.'


	4. Episode 4: Morning Star

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Doctor Who.

Season Notes: Really, officially AU. Like that's a surprise.

Anyway, late chapter. Sorry it's so suck-ish. Lost my momentum down the line and my story suffered. Three chapters left. One stand alone-ish (next) then the two part finale. I forgot how much I like writing for the Eleventh Doctor.

* * *

I Can Run Forever

Mikkal

Episode 4: Morning Star

* * *

Episode Notes: Originally inspired by the concept behind "Angels Take Manhattan." I was going to have it in New York and everything. Well, originally it was the Dream Lord who was the bad guy and the episode was called "The Bird are Singing," but then it went to Weeping Angels.

* * *

_The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled_

_ was convincing the world he didn't exist._

He had that nightmare again. The one where the Doctor drowned in darkness, bubbles bursting from his mouth as he screamed. Rory could do nothing but watch him, feeling his own lungs seize as if he was the one drowning instead. He woke up to Amy thrashing around, her yells for the Doctor muffled from the pillow over her face.

'Amy. Amy. Wake up.'

She woke up like he woke up, panting and the pillow falling away to revel panicked eyes. The quickly passed and she glared at him. 'What time is it?' She grumbled.

Rory glanced over at the clock and saw 7:03 pm GMT. No year or date, just the time zone for the East Coast of North America. Okay, that was new. He added that to the time when he told his wife. She groaned and covered her face again.

'Why is the clock doing that?'

The door slammed open.

'Because we are in North America! South Carolina to be exact!' The Doctor crowed, shaking a snow globe. Why he had a snow globe when Christmas was two months ago (celebrating an almost full year of travelling with the Doctor again so it added up to a year and two months…ish) and why he kept shaking it and peering at the figurines in it was a question and a half. 'The TARDIS is in an exposition-y sort of mood as of late. Normally she doesn't keep the time proper. (You know, I don't think exposition is the word I want. Words. Words. Words.)'

Amy raised an eyebrow. 'There are plenty of times she's kept the clocks right. You've just never paid attention.'

'Never needed to,' the Doctor said almost defensively. 'I've got my watch!' He patted his wrist proudly. The TARDIS made a groaning sound. 'Oh don't be like that, old girl. I still value you the most. Promise!' The groaning turned to humming and Rory couldn't help but think back to '_I always liked it when you called me "old girl."'_

'Why are we in South Carolina?' Rory asked.

'Excellent question!' The Doctor answered.

There was a beat of silence as the Ponds waited for him to elaborate and then they realized that was all he was going to say.

The Doctor turned and walked out, staring intently at his snow globe and muttering under his breath. He paused and looked back at them. 'Well? Come along, Ponds. We've got a mystery to solve, gang!'

'What mystery?' Amy demanded, scrambling from under the covers. She pulled on a pair of denim shorts and a loose maroon shirt. She stole Rory's black leather jacket and struggled to pull on her boots as she hopped after the retreating Doctor. 'Why are we in…_South Carolina_?'

Rory just watched them leave, Amy asking probing questions and the Doctor saying anything and everything that didn't have to do with the answers. He rolled his eyes and got dressed himself.

He entered the console room just in time to hear the Doctor say, 'The Shadow Proclamation. You've never met them.' He seemed a little sadder at that but he shook it off. 'But they're basically the universe's police. There's been some disappearances in this part of the state. A few of those people were found back in time.'

Amy paled. 'Back in time? Weeping Angels?'

Okay. He was kind of lost. He'd heard of these Angel things, but he hadn't met them before. There was the mentions of the Byzantium and they were in that maze-prison with the alien that used fear to eat faith or something like that. But never actual Angels.

The Doctor nodded. 'Yeah. The funny thing is, though, there have been sixteen missing people but only the first three to disappear were found back in time.'

'Where have the others been found?' Rory asked.

'No where,' was the answer. 'They haven't been found.'

'So, _not _Weeping Angels then?' Amy interjected hopefully.

The Doctor shrugged. 'Don't know for sure. The reports state that the three found remember seeing a statue of a weeping angel.'

Rory sighed and covered his eyes. He could already imagine the nightmares Amy was going to have next time they got a chance to sleep. (He couldn't say tonight because the chances of sleeping _tonight _were low.) 'Why are we checking this out? I don't remember doing anything specifically for the Shadow Proclamation before. I mean, for the princess in the old American West thing, but that was something different.'

'Ah-ha!' The Doctor exclaimed, whirling around and jabbing a finger towards Rory's nose making the human go crossed eye. 'That's where you're right! _You_ haven't done anything, but you forget I don't sleep as much as you. I do a few errands for them every now and then. Nothing big, only a little bit dangerous. I picked this up last night while you were wasting it away. Apparently, according to them, I've got the most experience with the Weeping Angels besides River.' He grimaced. 'Fun.'

* * *

Their search took them all day, believe it or not. They were in Sumter, South Carolina. It wasn't a large place but it wasn't small either and the military base (Shaw Air Force Base) near by was included in their search. Rory felt a little twitchy when the Doctor pulled out the psychic paper to get them into the base, but not as twitchy as he would be if it weren't for the whole Nixon/Silence fiasco 43 technical/no-time travel influenced years ago.

The base was unimpressive. The residential and commercial areas were separated but considered the same base. They went to the commercial area first, that led to nothing. Only ten of the disappearances happened there—one pilot of a F-16 fighter jet and one kindergarten teacher from Oakland, a group of four friends hanging out at a pool, a couple bowling, and two strangers who had literally ran into each other at the commissary. Of the ten, the couple was the only ones found back in time. The left over six disappeared in the residential area, mostly from schools and parks and small restaurants. The last sent-back-in-time one was a young girl who managed to find a family to adopt her. The three sent back in time were the first to disappear.

'Why can't you bring them back?' Rory asked.

The Doctor frowned. 'Because it breaks the loop.' He paused and shook his head. 'No, ignore that. It's actually because the power used by Weeping Angels interferes with my TARDIS. Conflicting time energies. If I tried to go back for any of them then the whole universe will rip down the middle and slowly crumble out like paper.'

'Really?'

'…Well, no. But if its easier for you to understand that way then yeah.'

Amy rolled her eyes. 'So we're going to this, this prom tonight, right? Perfect place for some Angels to get something to eat.'

'_Angel,' _the Doctor corrected. 'Sixteen people is too low to be more than one.' He tweaked his bowtie. 'That is, if it even is a Weeping Angel. Only three people were found back in time. Angels can't put them forward in time due to the fact that it would kill them. Ten people would be enough to kill an Angel. Thirteen is too many. And there's no reason to kill itself…So where are the other people?'

'Lovely,' Rory muttered. 'So we're basically back to square one. We don't know what's going on. Could be an Angel, could not be an angel. What if it is, though? How do we get rid of it?'

'A mirror,' Amy suggested. 'Or…Or…a place that has a ton of cameras. If they think they're being looked at even if they're not they won't move right? Um…Trick it into space? Or an airtight, radiation tight box?'

'All excellent ideas, Pond,' the Doctor assured. 'I never thought of that box before. That might actually work. We'll figure it out as soon as we know for sure what we're dealing with. We have to be careful about this.'

Amy rose a surprised eyebrow and exchanged glances with her husband. 'You? Being careful? Who are you and what have you done with the Doctor?' There was a beat of silence before she made a face, probably realizing what she said.

If it was anything like what Rory was thinking it was along the lines of Gangers and Teselectas then he understood the face she was making.

Luckily, the Doctor didn't seem to notice, too busy sonicking a flier to the prom Amy was putting her nose up to earlier.

'So,' Rory said, preparing to pull the difficult task of bringing the conversation back to the problems about the American high school end of the year dance. 'We go to this prom—the most crowded place tonight—figure out if this is actually an Angel and then figure out how to stop it then stop it. How do we get into the prom?'

'Easy!'

* * *

Easy was psychic paper for the teachers. But the Doctor didn't take into account of the students who didn't have a weirdness censor.

'Um,' one student said, staring at them almost as soon as they walked into the school and past the ticket counter. 'You know this is a "masquerade," right? Masks? How'd you get in wearing…_that_.' She pointed at them, specifically at the Doctor's neck.

He tweaked his bowtie with a smile. 'Bowties are cool!'

'Well, I guess that's better that what _those _two are wearing.'

'Thank you!'

'…And you're British! _How'd _you get in _here_?'

'Actually,' Rory said. 'We've lost a statue. Have you seen it?' Amy elbowed him in the side for that. '_Ow_.'

'That doesn't tell me how you got in here…A statue?' She muttered, just barely heard over the roar of the prom going on behind her. 'What does it look like? There's like twenty or something in there.'

Amy paled at that while the Doctor said, 'A weeping angel.'

The American girl thought for a ridiculous amount of time, probably not realizing by their faces how bad this situation actually was, before snapping her fingers. 'Yes! I have seen a weeping angel statue. Some pranking jerks keep moving it, though, so I don't know where it is exactly.'

Amy gripped Rory's arm tighter. 'Can you show us where you last saw it?'

'Sure,' she said, shaking her head. 'And you're Scottish,' she muttered. 'Two Englishmen and a Scottish woman…this is kinda awesome.'

The Doctor grinned. He was starting to like this girl. 'Lead the way, Miss…?'

'Cas,' she supplied. 'Cas Teal.'

'I'm the Doctor.'

'…Doctor who?'

He grimaced but smiled anyway. 'Loaded question. Let's stick with just the Doctor. And this is Rory and Amy.'

'Nice to meet you.' Cas dodged a dancing couple. 'Why are you looking for a weeping angel statue?'

'You ask a lot of questions,' Rory commented.

She smiled. 'I know. It annoys the crap out of my mom…you gonna answer it?'

'It's made of a very rare, dangerous stone that reacts violently with sugar,' the Doctor pulled out of the air, looking around the gym.

Why did everything react violently whenever the Doctor was involved?

'Why would the school purchase something like that?' Cas asked, horrified. 'There's sweet tea, and punch, and candy, and ice cream, and _clumsy teenagers_...Can I sue?' She asked thoughtfully.

'_No_,' Rory said firmly before he could stop himself.

The American opened her mouth to argue back but the Doctor suddenly exclaimed, 'Oi! I _know _this song!'

Amy lunged for his rising arms and pulled them down. 'Don't even think about it. We do not need any of your Drunken Giraffe going on now.'

'"Drunken Giraffe?"' the Doctor repeated in amusement. 'You've name my dance moves now, have you?'

Cas giggled. 'The statue _was_ over here.' She pointed to a corner that was empty now. 'I don't see how those guys keep moving it, that thing must weigh ton.'

'If there's a lot of them,' Rory reasoned. 'Then it shouldn't be too hard. Thank you for your help, Miss. Teal.'

'Call me Cas,' she said. 'And I'm not leaving. That statue is _way _to heavy, something else is going on here.'

Oh great, a person who doesn't have a weirdness sensor _and _suspicious. What a wonderful combination. The Doctor was going to love this.

'Of course something else is going on here!' the Doctor exclaimed happily, seeming to find joy in pulling another unsuspecting person into alien/supernatural messes that could, quite, possibly get them killed and/or sent back in time.

'That statue is alive isn't it,' Cas said equally as excited. 'That's why they've been all around the base. It's one, but it can move faster than we can see so it looks like more. That's why it's in different places.'

Amy frowned. 'You are quick to understand,' she said suspiciously.

'Are you kidding me?' The American said. 'This is the greatest thing ever! I can create a real life X-Files now! I just need to get older and join the FBI!'

'The X-Files?' The Doctor repeated.

Cas eyed him. 'You don't know the X-Files? Are you sure you're not an alien?'

Amy giggled and Rory coughed as he choked on the words he was about to say. The Doctor looked smug and straightened his bowtie, looking as if he was about to confirm the American's thoughts.

"Just a hermit," Amy jumped in.

Cas raised an eyebrow. "A hermit?" She looked around. "Unusual hermit. You have friends and you're in public."

The Doctor grinned. "Hermits United. We meet up every ten years. Swap stories about caves. It's good fun... for a hermit." He sounded like he was quoting someone. Probably himself, he had a tendency to quote himself.

"Anyway, thanks for the help. The statue's obviously not here, we'll be on our way," Rory said, tugging on Amy's arm.

'Oh pish,' the Doctor said, pulling Amy's other arm. Amy basically became the rope in a game of tug-of-war. 'We don't have to go so soon. There's a dance going on. I love dancing!'

'You should stay,' Cas said excitedly. 'There's plenty of food and room. Just don't let anyone you can't trick see you.'

'Cas!' A voice yelled, a voice that belonged to a light haired girl in a form-fitting tuxedo and black mask that she quickly took off. 'There you are. I've been looking all over for you.'

'I've been here the whole time, Deanna,' Cas said dryly. 'These are some new friends I found. Amy, Rory, and the Doctor. This is Deanna Wesson.'

The newly introduced Deanna eyed them critically. 'Interesting new friends. Only you could find a group like this.' She smiled, though, to indicate that though her words seemed harsh she didn't mean it in such a way.

Suddenly a screeching sounded through out the room, forcing people to cover their ears least they be permanently deafened. They didn't even have to cover them tightly, just cup their hands over the holes on either side of their heads and that was enough protection.

'Are we under attack?' Cas shouted, eyes squinting as if that would help with the noise.

'Attack?' Deanna shouted back. 'Why would we be under attack?'

Cas paused for a moment. 'I don't know!'

The Doctor grinned happily, pulling out his sonic and sliding it open to inspect. He seemed to be the only one who didn't have to cover his ears, Rory was rather jealous since his arms were getting tired and the noise didn't seemed to be stopping anytime soon. 'Nope! Not under attack.'

'Then what is it?' Amy demanded.

The noise stopped and they all sighed in relief. The music hadn't stopped and the masses decided to continue on with their lives as if nothing just happened.

'That was the TARDIS,' the Doctor stated proudly. 'She just figured something out…Oh.' He paled. 'Oh, that's not good. Oh. No. No!' He spun around and rushed out of the gymnasium, pushing people out of the way in his hurry.

'Doctor!' Amy shouted, taking off after him.

Rory was about to follow as well before something occurred to him. He paused and turned around to the expectant faces of two American teenagers. 'Stay here,' he ordered. 'For your protection.' Then he ran back to the TARDIS, bursting through the doors. 'Okay, what's wrong? Are we all going to die…again?'

The Doctor was hopping around the console with frantic mania, his usual spinning and flailing was gone. His features were set hard in worry and…fear? The Doctor was afraid.

He spun a dial before heading to a hallway. 'Amy, Rory, keep an eye on the kids! Make sure they don't break anything unimportant. No, that came out wrong. Don't break anything i_mportant_!' And then he disappeared.

Rory frowned at the odd parting words before he groaned and face palmed. He turned around and put his hands on his hips. 'Didn't I tell you to stay there?' He asked Cas and Deanna.

Cas smiled smugly, but she was still speechless from the interior of the TARDIS.

'Is this possible?' Deanna asked, voice breathless. 'Physically, scientifically possible?'

Amy grinned. 'Yes on the scientifically, not sure on the physically. The Doctor hasn't taken the time out to explain it to us. Though we do know it's another dimension.' She nudged Rory gently with a proud smile on her face. 'This here is the TARDIS! A time and space machine, the Doctor's an alien.'

'This really is X-Files!' Cas shouted happily.

'Don't be silly, Cas Teal,' the Doctor said, appearing out of a hallway he didn't go in before. Rory could've sworn that was the corridor that led to the swimming pool and library, but maybe the TARDIS changed it again. Actually, scratch that, there was no maybe about it. 'This is nothing like The X-Files. This is loads cooler.'

'I thought you didn't watch it?'

'I don't need to watch it to know this is cooler. This is cooler than everything!'

'Doctor,' Rory said firmly, the only sane man in the room. 'What was that noise? What's got you so freaked out?'

The Doctor hummed. 'You see, that's the problem. There's nothing there. The TARDIS was giving me a warning that an Angel was close to her. At first. Then we came in here and there was nothing. Nothing at all, not even residual detection on the monitors.'

'You mean to tell me,' Amy said hotly. 'That we went running in the exact direction where there was a possible Weeping Angel?'

'Possibly,' the Doctor said distractedly.

'And why did you disappear?' Rory snagged the shawl wrapped in Cas' arms to keep her from going down a hallway. 'Stay here,' he ordered. 'I mean it this time, you could get lost and die if you go down that hallways.'

The Doctor scoffed. 'Don't be silly. Old girl would never let someone die in her corridors. And about the disappearing thing, I was checking to see if the Angel got in.'

And, honestly, Rory really didn't want to take the time to explain to him why that was a really, truly bad idea. So he wasted that time to drag Cas back from where she was attempting to go under the glass floor.

'Stop it, Cas,' Deanna scolded before turning to the Doctor. 'Can you explain what's going on? What is this place? Who are you really? Are we in danger?'

'…No.'

Amy rolled her eyes. 'A little hesitant, Doctor?'

Cas stopped trying to go exploring. 'Which question are you answering? You _can't _explain what's going on? Or whether or not we're in danger?' She didn't sound so excited anymore. 'What's going on?' She demanded harshly.

'Oi,' Amy said. 'You're the ones who followed us, not the other way around!'

'Hey,' Deanna snarled. 'Watch it. She didn't mean it like that. We're just really confused…and kinds scared,' she admitted.

Amy's features softened and she smiled. 'Don't worry,' she assured. 'The Doctor will get us out of this. Right, Doctor?'

Rory looked over at the Time Lord only to see the much older fellow not even paying attention; instead he was fiddling with the typewriter that (Rory suspected, but never actually confirmed) wasn't actually a typewriter.

'Doctor,' Amy said sharply.

He jerked his head up, frowning. 'Yes. Yes, right. Of course, Amy,' he said distractedly—which wasn't so far off of what he was normally like.

Rory shuffled over to him, hovering over his shoulder. 'Doctor,' he said quietly as not to scare the young Americans. 'What's going on? It's not a Weeping Angel, is it?'

'No, I don't suppose it is,' the Doctor answered. His nonchalant-ness was a bit disturbing. 'It was originally, that's where those three people back in time came from. But it's not a Weeping Angel anymore.'

'I don't know whether to be relieved or freaked out even more,' Amy said. Apparently they weren't talking quietly enough. Cas and Deanna looked confused and unsure as to if they should be terrified or not so their facial expressions were more comical than anything else.

'Neither,' the Doctor assured. He made a face. 'Okay, no. You should be relieved. Definitely relieved. As relieved as you can get. It's _not_ a Weeping Angel, how much greater can it get beyond that? Relived is a very good thing to be feeling right now.'

'Doctor,' Cas said. 'Do you know what it is if it's not this Weeping Angel thing?'

The Doctor ignored her and typed something else in, messing with his sonic. He twisted it, flipped it, twirled it, bopped it, doing everything but answer Cas' question.

'Would you just stop avoiding everything!' Rory burst out, startling everyone including himself. 'We have the right to know what's going on, just like you. Not telling us just leads to more trouble, haven't you figured that out by now?'

He stared at him, eyes wide and a grin slowly growing. 'Rory the Roman,' he said happily, practically swooning. 'I remember when your courage was _this _big.' He held his thumb and pointed finger a grain of rice apart. 'My, my, how you've grown.'

Amy snorted and ruffled Rory's hair. 'That's my boy,' she said.

'Alright then!' The Doctor shouted, stuffing his screwdriver into his coat pocket then flipping a switch that was actually meant to be twisted. 'Off to save the world, why not!'

The TARDIS began to whirl, shuddering slightly.

'We are _not _time-travelling now, not at a time like this!' Amy shouted, grabbing on to the railing.

Rory rolled his eyes and held onto the chair tightly. 'I'd hold on if I were you,' he called to the Americans.

They were clutching each other as if they were the only things real, eyes wide.

'What do you mean "time travel? I thought you were joking!' Deanna said in disbelief. 'You can't actually mean actual time travel. Can you?' No one answered her.

'Where are we going?' Amy asked.

Just then the TARDIS lurched, sending Deanna and Cas to the ground in a pile. Rory's wrist wrenched as he stumbled in the wrong direction, Amy let out a squeal of surprise. The Doctor had braced himself before hand so he was some how perfectly fine.

'Doctor!' Cas yelled as she rolled to the edge of the glass platform when the TARDIS seemed to spin out of control. 'What the hell is going on?'

'Cas, grab my hand, you idiot,' Deanna demanded, holding onto the railing pole with one hand with the other reaching for her girlfriend (it was sort of obvious). She was still on her stomach, stretched out. 'I'm not going to let you get hurt because you don't know when to hold on and when to not use your hands to talk. Your mom is going to kill me.'

She latched on and grinned. 'No she won't.'

'**_DOCTOR!' _**rumbled a deep voice, sending painful vibrations to the tips of their toes, making their teeth ache and their bones numb. '**_YOU ARE THE DOCTOR!' _**

'What was that?' Amy sounded frightened, even Rory couldn't calm his racing heart.

'I don't know!' The Doctor yelled back gleefully, never mind that they might be hurtling towards their untimely death, or trip back into time. 'But it's not a Weeping Angel. Remember we're suppose to be relieved about that?'

'I'd rather have the Angel,' Amy said dryly.

The TARDIS came to a sudden stop. This time event the Doctor fell. Well, more of he let go of the controls (whether by accident or on purpose) and slid until he tripped over the lip that connected the main platform to the ramp that led to the door. He let out a bright laugh at the whole thing, clapping his hands like a child.

'Is he always like this?' Deanna asked as she stood gingerly, gently helping Cas as well. 'So…childish?'

'You have no idea,' Rory said.

Cass rubbed her backside. 'I'm pretty sure there's a disorder with his name on it. But if he's really an alien, I don't think it counts.'

The Doctor turned his back to the doors, hands behind him and grasping the handles. His smile was huge and a little frightening because whenever his smiled like that they always got into loads of trouble. 'Are you ready to save the world?' He asked.

'From what?' Amy countered.

Unbelievably, his smile got bigger. 'I don't know!'

He opened the doors to reveal a Weeping Angel _right _there, hands in claws and teeth sharpened, face ugly. The Doctor slammed the doors closed so fast they rattled again. Cas screamed and clung to Deanna tightly.

'Well, _that _was a bad idea,' he said, still not losing that happy tone.

'I thought you said it wasn't a Weeping Angel!' Amy shouted, frightened.

'That's a Weeping Angel?' Deanna asked. 'It didn't look like it was Weeping!' She hugged Cas, knuckles turning white.

'I'm not wrong,' the Doctor shot towards Amy. 'That _wasn't _a Weeping Angel, trust me.'

'Trust you?' Cas repeated. '_Trust you? _How can we trust you if we don't even know what's going on? Why are you here? Where the hell are we?'

'We're in one of the jet hangers on base,' the Doctor explained, not losing that joyful look on his face like he was going to solve this in the next two seconds and everything was going to be fine.

Rory crossed his fingers in hope that it actually happened that way this time, for the sake of the Americans. The Doctor was ruining too many people's lives at this rate, whether by death or changing their views too much too quickly.

'There have been sixteen missing people on your base,' the Doctor continued, never moving from his spot. 'Three of those people, the first three, were found back in time. The thought was that it was a Weeping Angel, because that's what they do. There were reports of an angel statue appearing at different parts of the base, so that just clinched it. But where were the other thirteen people?'

'You're here to figure out why?' Deanna asked, more of confirmed. 'Why did you come to our prom?'

'Biggest collection of people,' Amy was the one to explain. 'The Angel could've shown up.'

'And it did,' the Doctor said. 'But it didn't, because that's not a Weeping Angel. It's just something pretending to be a Weeping Angel. That's why the report didn't get filed as important. The Shadow Proclamation's filing system is a little wonky.' He stared off into space. 'Really wonky. Like, I can't believe they knew something was going on here on Earth like this. They're usually not very good about Earth. Totally out of proportion. Don't get me started on the whole Judoon mess and the moon.'

'Doctor.' Rory snapped his fingers. 'Focus.'

'What? Oh, yes, right.' His hands finally appeared from behind his back to wave around wildly. 'It's all confusing, bureaucratic stuff that I try not to understand. We're here to stop the monster pretending to be an even scarier monster to confuse the higher authorities. At least, that's my general thought process is. I have no idea what we're actually facing. Maybe that Weeping Angel is a Weeping Angel.'

'Not helping, Doctor,' Amy gritted out.

'Right, apologizes.'

Cas raised an eyebrow. 'What does this have to do with saving the world?' She didn't let anyone answer because then she just said, jaw dropping and face whitening. 'It was a Weeping Angel at first, right? We know that for sure.'

'Yeah,' Rory said, mind racing to see where she was headed. He glanced at Amy and moved closer to his wife. She leaned against him, eyebrows furrowed as she thought along the same pace.

Deanna hummed. 'You talk too fast for me to know if you already mentioned this, but what if it was a Weeping Angel at first then it was killed? Just to give the impression that it's been a Weeping Angel this entire time.'

'Something that can kill a Weeping Angel,' Amy muttered. 'I didn't think that was possible.'

'Everyone has a predator,' the Doctor says. 'Maybe not in the traditional sense, but there's something above something. So it is entirely possible for someone to be above the Angels. There was something above the Time Lords and they didn't even know it.' He winced.

Cas shook her head. 'I don't want to know. This is enough for one day.'

'The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist,' Amy said suddenly, brightening. 'I think I get what you mean! This 'bad guy' is hiding behind the Angel to make it seem like he's not really here.'

Rory frowned. 'That's basically the premise behind almost every bad guy we've ever faced. We think it's one thing, but it turns out to be another.'

'Ah-ha!' The Doctor exclaimed. 'But this time it's doing it on purpose.' He whirled around to face the doors. 'That Angel wasn't an Angel, it was just a projected image to give the illusion there's one here. Those thirteen people are probably absolutely dead and there's nothing we can do about it.'

'That's so comforting,' Deanna muttered so quietly only Rory and Cas heard her. 'So, if we open that door, nothing's going to happen to us.'

'It shouldn't,' the Doctor assured. 'And I'm pretty sure the Devil isn't in there either. So, no worries for the rest of your days. It's a problem free, philosophy.'

Amy took a deep breath. 'Let's get this over with. Thirteen people in three weeks. At the rate this thing is going he's going to consume the world.'

'Exactamoudo!' The Doctor groaned, smacking himself sharply. 'I was hoping I'd never use that word again. Now, prepare yourselves. This door will. be. opened! Geronimo!' He swung the doors open and there was nothing there. 'That's rather disappointing, but not unexpected.' He grinned at the four Earthlings behind him. 'The TARDIS says there's something in here besides broken down jets. What do you say we find out what it is?'

* * *

'This is not how I wanted to spend my senior prom,' Deanna said dryly.

Cas shook her head. 'Are you kidding me? This is the single most exciting-slash-scariest thing to ever happen. _And _we can't tell anyone about it. This is fantastic!'

Rory groaned and let his head drop against the rock wall; he could feel the tension headache building rapidly. Amy patted his shoulder comfortingly, but it could only do so much.

They had entered the hanger only to be transported to some sort of cave on another planet. According to the Doctor it was a fast and simple platform that required little energy and could only be found in some galaxy Rory had never heard. They were also home to the creatures who had trapped them in this three-stone/rock-wall-and-one-force-field-wall cell.

They had devices just like the vampires had in Venice, that was how they were pretending to be a species that could move unbelievably fast. One of them would be an Angel in one corner, then they would change into a human shape while some one on the other side of the room would change into an Angel.

Pretty smart, actually.

'You lot are so thick!'

Of course, the Doctor didn't think so.

The Doctor jiggled one of the chains around his wrist. 'Really? You're _really_ going to do this? This is a completely rubbish plan.'

'_You must be sacrificed_,' the main minion said. His blank form was taller than the rest and there was a dot in the middle of it's not-there face.

'Of course I need to be,' the Doctor snarked. 'That's all that ever happens. Sacrifices. Offerings. The whole pudding. What I want to know is why your little master thing knew who I was.'

'_Memories. You are etched in the fabric of time and space itself, you can never be forgotten no matter how hard you try.'_

'Well, that explains a few things,' Rory said musingly.

Amy nodded. 'We can all go home now. We've figured it out.'

Cas couldn't help but giggle.

The entire cave began to glow a deep red colour, the sign that the 'little master thing' was arriving to steal…whatever…from the Doctor.

'What do you want from me anyway?' The Doctor asked. He still tugged on the chain around his wrists, they prevented him from grabbing his sonic.

_'Everything_.'

Deanna stood there, face blank. 'Everything? That doesn't sound good.'

**_'DOCTOR. DOCTOR. DOCTOR. DOCTOR.'_**

'Yes, yes,' the Doctor said. 'I know my name. What is yours?'

**_'I HAVE MANY NAMES.'_**

Cas frowned. 'That's a very popular answer in anything pop-cultured. Are we sure this is real life and not a dream. _Ow_,' she said in response to Deanna grabbing her arm in a vice grip.. 'I didn't mean for you to hurt me to prove it, you sadistic—Oh, _Deanna_,' she said sadly.

Rory looked over to see Deanna trembling. 'What's wrong? Is everything alright?'

Cas hugged her girlfriend tightly, running her fingers through the other girl's hair. 'She's never been good with fear,' she explained. 'She's great with everything else. The front and stuff, but as soon as she feels fear it's down the toilet and into the sewage.'

'**_FEAR…'_**

**'**Um,' Amy said, backing away from the force field wall slowly. 'Deanna, you might want to get rid of that fear. I think it's attracting the devil creature thing.'

Tears ran down her cheeks. 'I can't,' she whimpered, eyes wide and staring at the humongous beast beginning to form before the altar.

'You have to!' The Doctor shouted.

'I _can't_!'

'Fear is the beacon, to attract it to strong emotions then it eats everything,' Rory said. 'That's what the Weeping Angel was for, to scare anyone and everyone. Even if they didn't know what it was, the thoughts of suddenly disappearing or someone disappearing scared people. There were probably nightmares and everything. The Doctor's not afraid. I'm not afraid. Amy's not afraid. Cas is apparently mad. It's only you, Deanna. You need to be brave.'

Cas grabbed her hands. 'Deanna, look at me. _Look at me_,' she ordered, smiling when she did just that. 'I'm right here. Okay? I'm right here. That _thing _has been scaring people all month. Remember the dreams Tobias told us about?'

Deanna nodded, sniffling.

'That's it,' Cas said. 'Tobias is a little scaredy-cat. He can't stand up to anything. But you, you've been with me every night for the past six months, you've had no reason to be afraid. This thing is attracted to fear. It can't get to the Doctor because even though he has lots of memories—apparently—he's not scared enough.'

Deanna still whimpered pathetically.

'I can't lose you,' Cas said quietly. 'Especially to an alien Devil creature thing. That's just cruel, don't do that to me.' Deanna snorted out a loud. 'That's right. Laugh in the face of danger. Muhaha! Right? Right!' She pulled the girl into a hug, wrapping her arms around Deanna so fully it was hard to tell where Cas began and Deanna ended. 'Come on. All you need to do is be brave until the Doctor does something cool.'

Amy stood behind them, hands on each of their shoulders. Rory stood in front of them, stance protective.

'I'll talk you into bravery,' Cas decided. Then she started babbling about anything and everything. Television shows, books, movies, school, their relationship Deanna had tightened her hug when it steered to their relationship and Cas took that a hint to continue on that path.

The Doctor started laughing, his on of his wrists bloody but free so he managed to reach his sonic. 'That's right. Defeat it with love! The ultimate emotion besides faith. Though, I suppose right now you're using both.' He pointed it at the device that seemed to be the source of the light that was slowly turning solid. 'Thank you oh-so-very-much for showing me where you were keeping your master. It made is so much easier to trap it.'

There was a loud wail before the light disappeared and all five of the minions collapsed into heaps of silver and gold metal. A burst of blue light escaped each of them, fading into nothingness.

The Doctor freed the humans first. His sonic high pitched to made the force field disintegrate before he turned it on the chain bounding his other wrist.

'Seriously, Doctor?' Rory said immediately. 'You couldn't have made it so you didn't hurt yourself?' He tugged on the Time Lord's fingers to inspect the bloody circle wrapping around the thin wrist. 'I'm surprise you didn't break it.'

'I have my ways,' the Doctor replied, grinning. 'Now to call on the Shadow Proclamation to get them down here. This big boy's gonna be locked up for a very long time. You guys are just barely a level five planet, types like this shouldn't even be here.' He made a face, a mixture between guilt and disgust. 'Okay, never using the term "big boy" to describe the bad guy ever again. Remind me,' he told Amy.

Amy grinned and shook her head. 'Moron,' she said fondly. The Doctor smiled goofily at her.

'So that's it?' Cas asked. 'That's just…it? Nothing else?'

Amy nodded. 'Yep, that's generally what happens. I'd be surprised if it wasn't over. Though, that does happen too.'

Rory groaned. 'Don't remind me.' He glanced over his shoulders every time they though something was finished because they usually weren't despite what Amy thought.

'Doctor,' Deanna said hesitantly. 'I have a request,' Her tears dried, but cheeks blotched.

The Doctor smiled gently, pulled away from Rory (ignoring the man's protests), and crouched down so he had to look up at the Americans. 'Anything,' he promised.

Deanna smiled shakily back, fingers laced with Cas' so tightly they seemed to want to merge as one being. 'You said we can time-travel, right? Can you take me to the first day Cas and I met?'

'Of course I can!' The Doctor exclaimed. 'I would like nothing better right now that to take you there!'

* * *

Rory glanced down at the paper Amy held in her hand. 'They seriously gave us their number?'

Amy smiled. 'Why not? I would love to see them in a few years their time. I bet you they're still together.'

'I'm not taking that bet,' he said, 'I have no doubts.'

'Ponds!' The Doctor exclaimed from behind them. 'I know the perfect place to go! And I think I'll actually land there this time! What do you think about a planet of hats? Hats!' He danced around the console, a happy smile on his face.

Amy laughed. 'Haven't we already been there?'

'Ah, not this one! The one we went to was in the 31st century. _This_ one is the 50th, completely different.'

'Well then, lead the way! Can never have too many hats!'

Rory sighed. 'You barely ever wear them,' he pointed out.

'Doesn't mean I can't own them,' Amy said, pouting.

* * *

_**Next Up:**_

_Episode 5: Dean Men Tell No Tales_

He shook his head, a flash of tan brown caught his eye and he lifted the hand not on his head. It was darker than normal; the fingers longer, the tips scarred in places he never scarred them before. He blinked and brought the other hand down to hold them side-by-side.

The Doctor felt his face; sideburns, wild yet shorter hair, the jaw smaller, the nose a bit more beak-ish. His teeth, oh wow, his teeth!

'Doctor!' Donna shouted. 'Oi, space alien, where the bloody hell are you?'


End file.
